


Been There, Done That

by TaikoTurtle



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: F/F, Friends to Lovers, a bit of action, a little bit of angst with a happy ending i guess?, and in massive denial, blood in fight sequences, but nothing too bad I think, but we all know how this'll end, kimberly is an indecisive idiot, some violence, trimberly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-01-10 21:06:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12307794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaikoTurtle/pseuds/TaikoTurtle
Summary: From the tumblr prompt "Rise and fucking shine, motherfucker"The team has a bonding camping trip up on the mountains, but after a series of unfortunate events, Kimberly has to figure out how to make things right, including her feelings.





	1. Rise and shine everyone; rise and shine!

**Author's Note:**

> So this was intended to be a one shot chapter added to my cornucopia of tumblr prompts, but it ended up getting a little longer than expected so I figured I'd just split it into 2 chapters. Thank you to the anon who requested it! It also took me down memory lane for Xena.

“Rise and shine everyone; rise and shine!”

Zack’s surprisingly chipper voice rings through the crisp morning air and Kimberly wonders why she even agreed to this trip in the first place. A low grumble resembling a feral growl more than anything, emits beside her.

“I’ll rise, but I refuse to shine,” Trini grunts as she turns over and pulls her cushiony sleeping bag tighter over her head. Tufts of disheveled hair poke out from haphazard directions and it’s quite possibly one of the cutest things Kimberly’s seen, but that’s probably the drowsiness talking.

Jason had called for a group camping trip out on the mountain for the weekend, aiming to strengthen their team bond and take a break from their grueling training regimen. It seemed like a fantastic idea at the time, but with the bright sunlight flooding through the thin material of the cheap, flamingo pink tent and her stomach growling louder than a starving tiger, Kimberly’s starting to think that Trini has the right idea.

“Ten more minutes,” mumbles Kimberly as she wriggles deeper into her own sleeping bag.

The sound of crunching leaves and snapping twigs gets louder and louder until the entrance flap of the girls’ tent swings wide open and Zack’s boyish grin fills their view. “Oh hell no, we are not sleeping in. We’ve got a full day ahead of us!”

A yellow pillow promptly flies through the air and smacks him in the face with expert precision. He crinkles his nose in response and purses his lips playfully.

“Fine, no breakfast for you Crazy Girl, but don’t come whining to me when you miss out on all the sausages.”

Trini pokes her head up from beneath her sleeping bag and snickers, “I’ll pass on the morning sausage—not really my thing.”

“Suit yourself,” Zack says with a shrug, completely oblivious to the double entendre. “More for me anyways.”

He releases the tent’s flap and retreats, muttering to himself, “Who _doesn’t_ like sausage?”

Trini glances at Kimberly and upon catching her gaze and holding it for all of three seconds, their self-control crumbles and they burst into a fit of wild laughter. It’s pure and uninhibited and Kimberly’s sides start to ache with each successive giggle, but when she rolls over a little too far and ends up barely a foot away from Trini’s face, the laughter slowly subsides. The air is heavy with silence, the noise of the great outdoors seemingly dialed down to a dull background hum, leaving them with nothing but each other. 

Kimberly swallows thickly. “Zack’s pretty...dense, huh.”

“Yeah,” Trini remarks quietly, her eyes piercing Kimberly’s, “he sure is.”

Maybe it’s the morning mental haze blanketing over her judgment, or maybe it’s the soft, warm light catching on her billowing locks of hair, but Trini looks absolutely angelic. She looks stunning, beautiful, entirely unique and perfectly her. There’s a thousand words Kimberly can use to describe Trini and a thousand more beyond her vocabulary and yet it _still_ wouldn’t be enough to rightfully do her justice. 

Except these thoughts scare her more than anything, all the way down to her core. Kimberly has only ever liked guys before, but that’s because it never crossed her mind before that there could be room for alternative options; she never _had_ to think about it.

Not until Trini.

But admitting these feelings are real, acknowledging that they exist, could lead down a slippery slope because they only spell a world of complications and hardships. What if Kimberly ruins the synergy of the team? She doesn’t want to be the reason they can’t morph. It can’t happen, not _again._ So Kimberly pretends these feelings aren’t there, that they’re just a figment of her imagination, a cruel fabrication of her lonely heart.

Sometimes though, when she catches glimpses of Trini, she _swears_ she sees the same reservations reflected in her cautious eyes, and yet…

“Jason, I think the potatoes are burning.”

Billy’s mildly worried voice drifts through the air followed by a string of obscenities, courtesy of Jason. A smoky, slightly charred odor begins to permeate the tent and the spell is broken.

Kimberly clears her throat and rolls back to her side of the tent. “We should check on the boys. Sounds like they’re having difficulties without us.”

If Trini’s privy to Kimberly’s brief internal panic, she doesn’t show it. Her expression, stoic as ever, betrays nothing and she simply nods in agreement. “Sure.”

They get dressed and exit their tent only to be greeted by the sight of Jason slumped over a frying pan with Billy patting his back.

“It’s okay Jason, I have a hard time with potatoes too. We can just scrape off the burnt parts. They’re not completely inedible.” He pauses for a couple of seconds. “Only about 75 percent inedible.”

A heavy sigh leaves Jason’s mouth and Zack laughs before noticing the girls and waving. “Finally, the sleeping beauties decide to grace us with their presence.”

“Oh har har, Mister I-Need-Seven-Hours-Of-Sleep-Or-I’ll-Die,” Trini retorts sarcastically.

“How else am I gonna look this good?” Says Zack as he winks at them. “Besides, I slept at a decent hour last night while you were both doing whatever girls do at sleepovers. Braiding each other’s hair? Gossiping about celebrities?”

Trini rolls her eyes and smiles. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“Duh, that’s why I’m asking.”

“Well none of the above,” Kimberly interjects. “We were actually looking at the stars. The sky is super clear out here and we could actually make out some constellations.”

“Plus we saw a shooting star,” Trini adds. “How cool is that?”

“And we both made a wish,” Kimberly hums happily. She won’t admit what she wished for, at least not out loud, because it may or may not involve a certain Yellow Ranger.

Billy gasps, his eyes lighting up with excitement. “What did you guys wish for? You’re always supposed to wish upon a shooting star. Wait, wait, no, don’t tell me, otherwise it won’t come true.”

“Hey, guys, we’re losing focus.” Zack starts to snap his fingers to grab their attention. “What we should be concentrating on is the fact that our fearless leader burnt the easiest breakfast in the world.”

“Lay off, man.” Jason groans in protest. “You try cooking the potatoes next time if you’re such an Iron Chef.”

The light-hearted bickering continues for another good fifteen minutes as Jason doles out the somewhat edible portions onto round, dented tin pans for everyone to get their fill before heading out for the day. With food occupying their attention, the back and forth banter dwindles into a comfortable silence punctuated with the sounds of content chewing. Zack practically inhales his food, both out of sheer hunger and from raw excitement, so he starts doing some stretches to limber up while waiting for the rest to finish. 

The first item on the agenda is hiking. Jason seems to have a route in mind as he maneuvers briskly, weaving in and out around the trees with purpose behind each wide step. It almost feels like they’re walking in circles based on how much ground they seem to be covering and it makes Kimberly fascinated with how vast the forest really is.

“Hey Jason, how far away is it?” Billy asks as he adjusts the straps of his backpack to get it situated in a more comfortable position. 

Waving his hand, Jason presses forward. “We’re nearly there.” 

Trini swats at a stray spider web caught on her wrist and frowns at the nuisance. “When you mentioned a hike, I was picturing more of a leisurely nature walk.”

“Having trouble keeping up?” Zack cackles from farther ahead as he hops up several boulders before leaping high onto a swaying tree branch nearly twenty feet off the ground. His added weight bends the wood down precariously as he finds his balance. “And here I thought you were the most athletic of us all next to Jason.”

“Make no mistake, I can be as athletic as I want,” Trini yells up at her friend, “but the keyword here is _want_ , and what I want right now is to be wrapped up in a warm sleeping bag and catching a couple more hours of sleep." 

“Well all I’m hearing from up here are excuses. Maybe you should put your money where your mouth–”

_SNAP!_

“–shit!”

The branch beneath Zack’s feet buckles without warning before snapping in half. Splinters shower out in all directions as he plummets to the earth, colliding with a couple of other stray branches on his way down before hitting the ground hard with a sickening thud.

“Zack!” Trini dashes over with Kimberly right behind her, both girls kneeling beside him. He lets out a long, weak groan and coughs a few times, the wind having been knocked from his lungs as he rolls around on his back. 

“Are you okay?” Kimberly asks with concern.

“Nothing’s hurt but my pride,” Zack jokes quietly before hissing in pain, his brow scrunching abruptly. “And maybe my leg.”

They turn their attention to the limb in question to survey the damage and spot a large tear in his jeans with a gash spanning a good length up his shin towards the bottom of his kneecap. It’s large but shallow, with blood seeping out at an even, slow pace.

Jason starts motioning back the way they came. “We need to take him back to the camp, get it cleaned up–” 

“No way,” Zack objects as he struggles up into a sitting position. “I’m not going to be a downer for this trip. You said we were almost there anyways, right? Let’s just get to wherever we were going to go and you can just patch me up there.”

“I don’t know…” Jason hesitates as he looks at the other Rangers for a second opinion. 

“How far away are we?” Kimberly asks.

“About five more minutes.”

“I can handle that,” Zack chimes in as he shakily stands up with the help of Trini. “Stings like no other, but that’ll be nothing compared to what my mom will say. She just helped me sew these pants back up from that incident a couple weeks ago.” 

“Maybe someone should stop ripping their pants so much,” Trini quips sarcastically, prompting Zack to roll his eyes. She pauses momentarily before continuing on. “I’ll fix them for you. Your mom has enough on her plate already and I’m a pro thanks to my little brothers.” 

He grins broadly and ruffles her hair. “Thanks.”

She pulls her head away from the affectionate gesture in mock irritation, but the small smile that’s spread across her face says otherwise.

“Alright, follow me then.” Jason nods his head and they press onward.

True to his word, they walk for hardly more than five or so minutes before the trees begin to thin out and they’re met with a large open clearing and a shimmering lake. Sunlight glitters along the gentle, placid water and with the subtle sounds of birds and wildlife vibrating in the air, it’s an absolutely breathtaking sight to behold.

“Wow,” Billy exhales as he shields his eyes against the bright reflections to take in the entire view.

“Wow is right.” Trini echoes his sentiments as she helps ease Zack down to rest against a nearby boulder.

“Yeah, I had plans for us to go swimming,” Jason admits as he rubs his neck thoughtfully, “but I don’t know anymore.”

“You guys should still go.” Zack waves his hand. “Don’t stop on my account.”

“I’ll stay behind and patch him up,” Kimberly offers.

Trini’s face twists into a frown and she shakes her head adamantly, “What? No, I’ll do it.”

“It’s no big deal. Besides, I want you to go have fun.” Kimberly gives Trini’s shoulder a quick squeeze. Trini opens her mouth to protest, but whatever long-winded words she has prepared seem to die in her throat and her lips slowly come to a close. Zack casts an odd, skeptic look between the two of them, his eyebrow quirking up before sighing loudly and extending his arm towards Billy. 

“Can you hand me the first aid kit please? These girls can’t get anything done when they’re around each other.” 

“Hey!” Kimberly and Trini shout in unison but Billy remains unfazed to their affronted response and unshoulders his backpack with Zack laughing heartily from his position on the ground.

Unzipping the largest pocket, Billy tosses the emergency first aid kit at him before heading towards the water with Jason. Trini narrows her eyes at Zack before trailing shortly after to where Jason’s already starting to shed his clothes in favor of his swimsuit underneath. Billy hangs near the edge to feel the water lap at his feet, but politely declines when they ask him to join them out in the deeper depths. Kimberly doesn’t blame him; after what he went through with Rita at the docks, she would feel the same way.

Her attention though is quickly diverted as Trini catches her eyes. She pauses by the water before shyly pulling off her top to reveal a sleek, two-piece golden yellow bikini. It hugs her curves in a flattering way that has Kimberly’s breath hitching in her chest as she subconsciously licks her lips.  

“Thirsty much?”

Kimberly’s eyes bulge and her head whips around, bewildered and appalled at Zack’s comment. “Wh-what?”

“Hey, there’s no judgment here. We’re all a family, remember?” 

“I–but– I, what?” Kimberly weakly sputters, completely at a total loss for words. She frantically snatches at Zack’s pant’s leg and starts rolling it up, busying her hands with pulling out the necessary first aid supplies. “No, no, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“Listen, I’ve seen the way you guys look at each other. Doesn’t seem like much of a secret to me.” 

Kimberly’s brow twitches and she splashes on some mild disinfectant to Zack’s gash causing him to grit his teeth. Her hand shakes as she reaches for the gauze, fingers fumbling while she wraps his leg with glazed and unfocused eyes. 

“I don’t…I don’t know.” Kimberly’s voice is hushed and barely above a whisper, almost as if talking to herself instead of Zack. Slowly her hand comes to a stop over his leg, the gauze only partially wrapped around his skin. She doesn’t know why this is bothering her as much as it is, but there’s just so many questions, so many what ifs, that each possible outcome presented only seems worse than the one before. She’s run through countless scenarios in her mind, but the negative options constantly eclipse the good to the point where she’s simply given up.

Zack’s comment though, the way that _they_ look at each other, well, it gives her a sliver of hope, but having hope like that is a dangerous thing because it can also set her up for an even harder fall. For once Kimberly isn’t so sure of anything anymore.

“I’m… scared.”

Her voice comes out so small that it sounds foreign in her ears. It’s so uncharacteristic, so atypical, that she just shuts down, because how does she even begin to deal with this monstrous, intangible fear? Where does she even start? 

“You? _Scared?”_ Zack scoffs with disbelief. “You’re Kimberly fucking Hart! Since when are you afraid of anything?” 

Kimberly shakes her head and chuckles despondently, “More often than you think.”

He takes her hand in his own, his grasp both reassuring and comforting and it’s damn near impossible not to look him in the eyes. Zack has always been known to be the devious trickster of the group, the energetic character who manages to get them into all sorts of mischief and trouble, but it’s moments like this - when the facade is dropped - that his support means so much more.

“Even when you’re scared, you’re still a fighter,” he says proudly. “You don’t let anything pull you down, so whatever it is that you’re telling yourself, whatever it is that’s psyching you out, you just need to push it out of your head.”

“Yeah, well, easier said than done.” Kimberly casts her gaze sideways towards Trini and sighs, “This… isn’t that simple.”

Zack follows her line of sight before his features contort and he sucks in a sharp breath. “I mean, Trini would kill me if she knew I said anything, but–”

Except he never gets to finish his sentence as an unearthly screech rips through the air and Kimberly’s world goes black for several seconds before the pain even registers in her mind. Her body flies through the air before skidding to a halt, rocks and foliage raking harshly against her skin and drawing blood as an explosion of stars and dots obscure her vision. She can hear someone calling her name, but the voice sounds far away, almost like a dream, but the pounding in her head and the pulsing pain shooting up and down her arms firmly reminds her that this is as real as it gets.

“What the hell…” Kimberly groans disorientedly as she tries to regain her bearings but then a hand hastily snatches her by the arm and yanks her upright. Blinking hard and shaking her head to rid herself of the pesky stars muddling her vision, Kimberly glances sideward and is met with Trini’s distraught face.

“Are you alright?” She yells above the raucous commotion.

Kimberly finally takes a quick second to survey their surroundings and is met with the most bizarre sight: aggressive, anthropomorphic ravens with razor sharp talons are surrounding the group. There’s around four or five of them, each standing at least a head taller than Zack, but they’re circling in a frenzy making it harder to get a good gauge of how many they’re up against.

“What’s going on?!”

“They came out of nowhere,” Trini shouts urgently, “we’re under attack!”

Kimberly’s eyes widen. “Trini on your right!" 

Trini heeds her warning in time to dodge the lunging foe before dropping low to deliver a sweeping kick to its shins, but the bird is equally fast and responds by leaping through the air and out of harm’s way. They engage in a dance of sorts, exchanging blows back and forth with neither landing a devastating enough hit to make a difference, but Kimberly has no time to focus on Trini’s well-being because another bird nearby squawks like it’s a harbinger of death and charges at her with startling speed.

She swivels in place and leans back, narrowly avoiding the sweeping arc the bird’s talons make as it swipes at her head. Grabbing its feathered arm with a vice-like grip, Kimberly counters by hurling the bird over her shoulder and slamming it into the ground. The earth crumbles underfoot, dirt and debris scattering outward as leaves and bones alike crunch and crackle from the impact. 

A feeling of pride swells in Kimberly’s chest because she hasn’t exactly had the most stellar track record with hand-to-hand combat, so watching the enemy writhe on the ground with no signs of standing up anytime soon makes her feel accomplished as hell.

But there’s no time to waste, no time to slow down. There’s chaos all around as each Ranger is still paired off against a bird of their own. Kimberly’s mind is racing a thousand miles a second as she tries to decide who she should go help next, but then that’s when it happens.

The choice is made for her.

In the worst way possible.

Zack is favoring his weakened leg as he struggles to keep up against his enemy, but the bird is too fast and far more intelligent than it lets on because it goes straight for his injured leg. With a powerful kick, it clips Zack on his shin causing him to buckle from the pain and lose focus.

Then the bird swings its talons.

It’s like a scene from a movie. Or maybe a nightmare, but at this point they’re just one and the same. The deep slashes that appear on his throat almost look fake, as if they’re a cheap, horrible makeup prosthetic applied during Halloween. She sees a puffy, disgusting off-white, almost cream color where the skin is parting and Kimberly _refuses to believe that it’s real_ , but after time starts ticking and the vacuum of disbelief dispels, the blood just starts _gushing_ out in thick streams like a grisly waterfall. Zack’s widened eyes flutter, his mouth gaping open in shock, but there’s no sound coming out, there’s no _nothing_ despite how hard he tries.  Kimberly hears a spine-chilling scream rip through the air.

Trini’s on the unlucky bird who’s responsible in an instant, wailing on it with a surprising flurry of punches as she beats it down into the ground harder and harder until the beast’s purple blood is coating her fists like macabre paint. Tears stream down her face as she relentlessly pummels the bird into submission to the point of it being an unrecognizable mess but she doesn’t care.

The rest of the remaining assailants look back and forth between each other, assessing the situation swiftly, before squawking and flying away.

“Come back here you fucking cowards!” Trini snarls viciously, halfway ready to leap through the air to pull another bird back to the ground and to its death, but a choked garbled sound escapes Zack’s mouth and rips her attention back to what matters.

“Oh my God what do we do?” Kimberly’s hands are shaking and there’s tears streaming down her face because fuck, there’s just _so much blood_ and it’s everywhere.

“Put pressure on the neck, we need to stop the bleeding and get him to a hospital!” Trini’s hands are on his neck as Jason comes running up with his shirt that was shed earlier before swimming. She presses it against the wound to staunch the flow of blood, but her face is grim.

They’re all thinking the same thing, that Zack’s already lost too much blood, that her efforts are futile at best, but nobody wants to say it, nobody wants to admit it out loud.

Zack knows it though, his face reflects the same despair swirling in Trini’s expression, but there’s also acceptance in his glossy eyes and he grabs Trini’s arm. His mouth parts slightly prompting her to lean in close as she shakes her head, refusing to believe that this is the end. 

“Take… care… my mom…”

He squeezes Trini’s arm weakly but it conveys the comfort and love that he holds for the entire squad and as his chest slows to a motionless halt, his grip going slack and eyes unseeing, Kimberly’s heart sinks like an anchor into the pit of her stomach.

Everything is still.

There’s no wildlife chirping, no breeze blowing–it’s almost as if the world stopped in solidarity of the fact that Zack’s whole life just ended. His brilliant energy and lovable charisma snuffed out faster than a candle in a storm and in spite of the rebellious life he’s lead, his final words were nothing but selfless; they just need to make sure to honor his request. 

“What about… what about the Command Center?” Billy asks quietly. “Can Zordon or Alpha do anything? They brought me back, right?”

Jason rests his hand on Billy’s shoulder and sniffles, his eyes red as silent tears trickle down his cheeks. “No, the morphing grid only worked that once, it’s not going to work again.” 

Billy’s face contorts in confusion. “Why not?”

“It won’t, okay?!” Trini snaps loudly causing Billy to flinch. Her shoulders sag with instant regret - she didn’t _mean_ to be so rude at his honest question - so she softens her words as the heaviness in her heart speaks for itself. “It just… won’t.” 

Still staring desperately at Zack, Billy continues on. “...Why can’t we at least try?”

The Rangers exchange looks with one another, knowing how fruitless it would probably be, but they figure maybe Billy is on to something, that hey, maybe there could be some goddamn miracle in Zordon’s bag of tricks. It’s a long shot, but it’s all they have at this point, so Jason hoists Zack’s body over his shoulder and they make their way towards the Command Center.

It’s the longest trek of their lives, or at least, that’s how it feels for Kimberly. Haunting visions of carrying Billy’s body from the docks to the Command Center flash through her mind. The first time dealing with death was almost easy. Easy in that it’s like blacking out. It’s like forcing your brain to shut down so that you can’t absorb the pain, to not digest how much it truly hurts.

But the second time around?

No, it doesn’t get any easier. The memories she’s tried so hard to suppress are slowly creeping up in the distance, like a suffocating blanket of darkness following in the wake of Zack’s untimely death, both events joining forces to be an unbearable, stifling pressure. For some reason it’s just so hard to ignore the second time around; she can only feel so numb. 

The sun has already set by the time they reach the Command Center, their footsteps echoing throughout the cold, metallic hallways of the foreign ship and everything that follows just blurs together.

Alpha offers no quirky remarks, no half-baked attempts at human jokes - the moment he sees that there’s only four of them standing he assumes the worst has come to pass. The Rangers plea with him, asking if there’s anything that can be done, if there’s anything at all, but Alpha and Zordon’s responses are exactly as they fear.

There isn’t a damn thing in the world that can bring him back.

They stand there silently with the weight of the world on their shoulders as reality begins to crumble around them. How are they going to tell Zack’s mom? How do they tell an ailing woman that her only son, her absolute pride and joy, is gone? That she’s going to have to bury her _own child_ before herself?

Nobody wants to be the one to tell her, but the wretched task is inevitable, however it’s getting late so they come to a collective decision to break the news in the morning. Alpha says he’ll clean Zack up while the team gets in a quick rest so that when they have to speak to Zack’s mom, Zack won’t look as… bad.

The hard part is figuring out how to explain it.

How does one explain away the horrid scratches on his neck? Or explain that her son was keeping the world safe from inexplicable evil day in and day out? Perhaps by the morning Alpha will have an answer, but it won’t make things any easier.

The team heads to the sleeping quarters to try and get a hint of shut-eye, but it’s hard when there’s nothing else to focus on but one’s own thoughts. Airy sniffles interrupt the still, dark room and Kimberly’s lungs constrict tightly in her chest, aching from the loss of one of their own. It doesn’t seem like she’ll make it through the night - how _can_ she when Zack’s not there with them? - but she feels her bed sink down as Trini crawls under the covers with her.

Kimberly’s shirt dampens immediately from the silent tears streaming down Trini’s cheeks and Kimberly wishes she could just make the pain go away.

But she can’t.

No one can.

So she wraps her arms around Trini’s tiny, trembling body and lets her own tears flow freely until they have nothing left to cry and they both drift away into a dark, heavy slumber.

  


//

  


The first thing Kimberly notices when she wakes the following morning is just how nauseated she feels inside, how just the knowledge of knowing that Zack is no longer with them makes her gut twist like a pretzel. 

The second thing she notices however, as she sluggishly blinks away the crust and rubs at her eyes with the back of her hand, is that everything looks… pink?  And distinctly _not_ the grey, lifeless color of the Command Center. So pink like… her tent?

“Rise and shine everyone; rise and shine!”

Kimberly’s eyes shoot wide open in shock.

That voice. 

There’s no way. 

It _can’t_ be. 

“I’ll rise, but I refuse to shine,” Trini grunts as she turns over and pulls her cushiony sleeping bag tighter over her head and an intense wave of déjà vu crashes over Kimberly.

The sound of crunching leaves and snapping twigs gets louder and louder until the entrance flap of the girls’ tent swings wide open and Zack’s boyish grin fills their view. “Oh hell no, we are not sleeping in. We’ve got a full day ahead of us!”

_Impossible_


	2. Déjà Vu All Over Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sooo was going to make it 2 chapters but was like, wHY NOT 3? (i.e. I have a short attention span so I'm making it 3 chapters instead of 2 because I keep staring at the same words all day but nothing happens and it's frustrating me)
> 
> Thank you to everyone who left comments! I really enjoyed reading everyone's "wtf???" reactions

_Impossible_

“Zack!!” Kimberly tosses aside her sleeping bag covers and throws herself at Zack, pulling him into a tight bear hug. His brow knits with confusion and he looks to Trini for an explanation, but he’s only greeted with an equally perplexed expression from the yellow ranger.

He pats Kimberly awkwardly on the back and his lips quirk up into a half-cocked grin. “Um, good morning to you too?”

Kimberly pulls back momentarily, her eyes darting back and forth, searching his neck for marks, but it looks untouched and his leg looks near perfect. “I can’t–I don’t, I don’t understand! Why are you here? _How_ are you here?”

A hearty laugh escapes Zack’s throat - oh how she _missed_ his laugh - and he stares at her oddly. “Well that’s a little harsh. I’m not as close to you as Trini is, but this is a _team_ bonding vacation, remember? Why wouldn’t I be here?”

“But… I saw you… I watched you die.” Kimberly utters the words with quiet uncertainty.

Zack chuckles half-heartedly. “What are you talking about?”

Kimberly falls back into a sitting position and rubs at her forehead, hoping the action would stir her thoughts into full clarity. Everything seemed so real - seemed so _vivid_ \- yet here they are… repeating… the day? Is it the same day?

“I… I don’t know,” she stammers out, “it’s probably nothing. Just a bad dream maybe.”

Zack shrugs. “If you don’t watch out, I’m gonna start calling _you_ Crazy Girl.”

He drops the tent’s entrance flap and walks away, leaving the girls alone for the moment. Kimberly stares blankly at the ground. She swears it felt _so real_. Too real, in fact, to be just a dream. The pain she experienced, the loss, the sheer fatigue - there’s no way it was all in her head… right?

“Hey,” Trini calls out from her side of the tent, “you okay?”

“Y-yeah. I’m fine,” Kimberly reassures her, and though Trini casts her a skeptical look, she doesn’t press the matter further.

A familiar, distinct odor wafts through the air.

“Jason, I think the potatoes are burning.”

Billy’s mildly worried voice drifts through the air followed by a string of obscenities and Kimberly’s blood runs cold.

This can’t be a coincidence.

The pair get dressed and upon leaving the tent, the scene laid out before her looks exactly the way she remembers. Jason, hunched over the frying pan with a defeated posture and Billy patting his back while offering his optimistic condolences.

“It’s okay Jason, I have a hard time with potatoes too. We can just scrape off the burnt parts. They’re not completely inedible.” He pauses for a couple of seconds. “Only about–”

 _75 percent inedible_ , Kimberly thinks to herself, and sure enough, Billy finishes the sentence word for word.

“Finally, the sleeping beauties decide to grace us with their presence.” Zack waves enthusiastically and Trini grumbles in response.

“Oh har har, Mister I-Need-Seven-Hours-Of-Sleep-Or-I’ll-Die.”

Kimberly’s frown deepens and she observes the group as they go about their business around the campfire. As Zack questions Trini about what the girls were doing the night before to which she responds with the stargazing comments, it becomes abundantly more clear that what Kimberly experienced wasn’t just a nightmare. The day is repeating itself but only she seems to remember what had happened.

Question is, _why_?

Her eyes flick over to Zack stuffing his face full of food  and the first thing that comes to mind is that she now has a second chance at saving his life. She knows those weird bird things attack them at the lake, and the only reason it got the better of Zack was due to his injured leg, so all she has to do is prevent him from falling during the hike and it should solve everything. Well, in theory anyway.

Yes, that must be it. That has to be why the day reset itself. What other reason could there be?

They eat their fill of breakfast and pack their bags for the long nature walk ahead, however this time Kimberly is fully prepared. As long as she’s proactive and ensures Zack’s safety, he’ll be fine for the upcoming skirmish.

But what if it’s not enough?

Doubt creeps up in the back of her mind and lurks like a harrowing spectre because even if she keeps his leg safe that’s still no guarantee that he’ll be fine later. This is all banking on speculation and assumptions, but there’s no telling what will happen. At this point however, she has nothing else to go on, so she steels her nerves and tells herself that everything will be okay.

Weaving through the trees for what seems like hours on end, the plants no longer look like scattered brush and random foliage, but instead recognizable landmarks of the long path she’s already walked. Each twig snapping underfoot brings them closer to the lake and closer to redemption.

Kimberly takes a swig from her water bottle as she tails closely behind Zack, not wanting to put too much distance between them so she can promptly stop him before he jumps on that branch. A light tapping on her arm momentarily draws her attention away and she sees it’s just Trini eyeing her bottle as she falls into step with her.

“Can I have some of your water?”

It’s awfully reminiscent of the second time they met up on the ravine and Kimberly smiles playfully. “This isn’t payback for pulling you off a cliff, is it?”

“Nope, not unless you want it to be.” Trini shrugs casually before leaning in close, their arms brushing up against each other. “Because I can think of more than a few things I can do to you.”

Kimberly chokes on air and breaks out into a coughing fit. “Wh-what?”

Her cheeks are burning up and it’s _definitely_ not from a bad case of sunburn. Out in broad daylight like this, Kimberly has no way to hide her flushed face and much to her chagrin, Trini is awfully observant.

“Pranks, Kim. I was talking about pranks.”

Trini plucks the bottle from Kimberly’s grasp all the while grinning smugly as if she just won a damn competition and takes a couple of sips. Licking her lips, she caps the bottle and hands it back to Kimberly whose gaze is still averted at the ground. Trini gazes up at Kimberly and studies her face. She pauses, as if contemplating something profound, before leaning in close again.

“Although I wouldn’t be opposed to whatever it is _you_ were thinking.”

Kimberly’s eyes widen and she whips her head to face Trini, who then winks at her before jogging up ahead to walk next to Zack.

What the hell was that?

Kimberly swallows thickly and tries to regain her composure, but the task seems near impossible with her heart racing so wildly out of control. Was that a test? Was Trini actually… _flirting_ with her? Or was Kimberly just projecting her own conflicted desires on a simply innocent comment?

But... no. No, there’s no way she misconstrued that. She thinks back to Zack’s words by the lake and his subtle verbiage starts to make more sense, about the way that _they_ look at each other and not just how Kimberly looks at her. Besides, Trini never acts this way with anyone else.

And since when does she ever _wink_?

“Hey Jason, how far away is it?” Billy asks as he adjusts the straps of his backpack and Kimberly is yanked abruptly from her inner musings. She mentally chastises herself for getting sidetracked. This is no time to be overthinking Trini’s behavior; there are more important things at stake.

Waving his hand, Jason presses forward. “We’re nearly there.”

Trini swats at a stray spider web caught on her wrist and frowns at the nuisance. “When you mentioned a hike, I was picturing more of a leisurely nature walk.”

“Having trouble keeping up?” Zack cackles and Kimberly starts to panic as he begins dashing up ahead and horrible images of him crumpling to the floor with bloodstained hands flashes in her mind. This is where it all starts. The beginning of the end if she doesn’t act quick.

Think, Hart, _think!_

“Actually yeah!” Kimberly blurts out loud and the whole gang stops to look at her. “I um… I’m a little tired. Can we take a quick break?”

Zack stays perched at the top of the boulders and for a second, she thinks it’s not enough, but then he hops back down with a resounding _thud_ and Kimberly heaves a sigh of relief as they congregate near the base of a large, mossy tree. She looks up at the weakened tree branch and smiles.

Crisis number one averted.

Now maybe he stands a chance against the mysterious enemies that they’re going to face, but Kimberly doesn’t want to take any risks. All she has to do is stick nearby when the fighting breaks out just in case things get too dicey.

“So where are we headed to?” Trini asks as she kicks around a tiny rock to pass the time.

Jason scrunches his eyebrows. “It’s supposed to be a surprise.”

“Why won’t you just tell us what it is? We’re going to figure it out sooner or later.”

“Because I want to, well, surprise you guys once we get there.”

“But you told us to bring swimsuits sooo…”

“Okay, fine, we’re going to a lake.” Jason throws up his hands in defeat. “Why do you guys have to ask so many questions all of the time? It’s like being stuck in a van during a road trip with all of you.”

“You’re just terrible at surprises,” Zack quips back.

Billy nods in agreement. “And I don’t really like surprises.”  

“Alright, alright, point taken.” Jason shakes his head amiably and the group breaks out into soft laughter.

“But… even though you are terrible with surprises, I think I speak for all of us when I say thank you for organizing all of this,” Zack says gratefully while gesturing broadly with his arms to the whole group. “We really needed this.”

Trini nods. “I second that.”

It’s true too. After the attack on Angel Grove courtesy of Rita and the giant Goldar, Jason and Zordon came up with a strict training schedule to keep them in tip-top shape just in case another baddy came to town trying to stir up trouble or dig up the crystal. With his quarterback background and innate leadership skills, Jason was practically born to step into the role of the red ranger. Coupled with his desire to not let his team down, he had the drive to keep them going strong with drills and exercises for the past several weeks.

But going too long with no breaks is enough to tire and stress even the best of people, so this little vacation, though not really going anywhere far, is turning out to be just what they needed.

Rubbing his neck self-consciously, Jason’s lips tug up into a small smile. “Thanks guys. That’s what this weekend is for, so I hope you all enjoy yourselves.”

Sure, Kimberly thinks to herself, once she keeps everyone safe, then she can relax and breathe easy.

“Okay, I think I’m good,” Kimberly says as she claps her hands together after their sentimental gratitudes. “Let’s get going to your _super secret surprise_.”

She adds air quotes to the last few words and Jason jokingly narrows his eyes at her. They pick up the pace once more and head towards the lake, but this time Kimberly does feel lighter. As the trees thin out and the same breathtaking sight comes into view, she relishes in the fact that she can actually join all of them in the water this time and she doesn’t need to fuss over dressing Zack’s wound.

“Wow,” Billy exhales as he shields his eyes against the bright reflections to take in the entire scene.

“Wow is right.” Trini echoes his sentiments as they drop all of their belongings in a consolidated pile.

“So I found this lake once when I was out exploring,” Jason starts as he pulls his shirt off. He nods at Kimberly and tosses the rumpled article of clothing to the floor. “After we saw each other that one night, I assumed that there would be more nearby, and I was right. That’s when it popped in my head that we should take a little vacation, and so after some planning, here we are.”

Trini’s eyebrow raises up. “That one night?”

“Oh no, it was nothing.” Kimberly waves her hands dismissively. “I had to clear my head and we happened to run into each other.”

“Hm, sure.” Trini’s gaze bounces between the two of them and her posture visibly deflates as her shoulders slump, lips pressed thinly together. Kimberly reaches out, ready to explain herself but Zack, with all of his impeccable timing, hollers loudly and zips right between them.

“Last one there is a rotten egg!” He chucks his shirt to their pile of belongings and dashes towards the water at full speed with Jason trailing shortly behind him.

Billy looks at the girls and smiles. “It’s not going to be me, that’s for sure.”

He departs jovially to join the boys, leaving the girls alone.

“Look, Trini, it’s–there’s uh, there’s nothing going on between Jason and I,” Kimberly says as if under fire for something she didn’t do. “It’s not like that.”

“Not like _what_ , hm?” Her tone is bordering an accusation and Kimberly wonders where this sudden hostility is coming from.

“We’re not dating behind everyone’s backs if that’s what you’re insinuating.” Kimberly’s voice raises a couple notches because this feel likes it’s coming out of left field.

“I didn’t say you were, but glad to hear that’s where your mind goes to first.”

“I just said we’re not dating!” Kimberly spits out with frustration. “Besides, why do you care anyways?”

“I don’t!” Trini retorts harshly. “I just… you know what, nevermind.”

Kimberly’s nails dig into her palms, her fists clenching and unclenching steadily, as she tries to suppress the bubbling indignation pooling in the pit of her stomach. She’s ready to fight back, prepared to defend herself against baseless allegations, but one look at Trini’s face shatters her resolve.

There’s a hint of sadness mixed with regret swirling in those dark, enigmatic eyes and it sucker punches Kimberly in the gut, because she didn’t mean to be the cause of it, but the moment is over in an instant and Trini’s walls shoot back up.

Trini nods towards the water like nothing ever happened, her expression perturbingly impassive and calm. “You coming?”

Kimberly stares into Trini’s eyes, searching for who knows what. Maybe an answer to why they’re constantly playing this game of silent tug-o-war, or why they’re seemingly dancing around a subject that neither wants to breach in hopes that the other will make the first move. Maybe Kimberly just needs to own up to her feelings and stop burying it away in hopes that it will disappear.

Incessantly persistent and unimaginably exhausting, her emotions are like weeds, surfacing between the cracks in the walls she put up to defend her heart. They keep growing and growing and sooner or later she’s going to have to figure out what to do with them because whether she likes it or not, they’re not going away. She’s getting tired of running, of playing these weary games, but now just isn’t the time.

“Yeah,” Kimberly sighs, “right behind you.”  

They shed their clothing and add it to the heap of possessions jumbled near their bags and approach the water. Billy is standing in the shallow end, the cool water lapping gently at his ankles while he watches from afar.

Stopping beside him, Kimberly tilts her head and gestures to the others. “You coming on in?”

He shakes his head and politely declines. “No, I think I’m fine right here.”

She figured as much, but thought she should at least offer before running on past. Trini’s already waist deep in the water when she casts a look over her shoulder expectantly.

“I’ll join you in a sec.” Kimberly calls out to her, to which Billy shakes his head again.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be alright.”

Kimberly wiggles her toes and pushes the tiny pebbles around underfoot. Through all of his hard work and tedious planning, some details still flew under the radar. “Jason really didn’t think this through, did he?”

Billy tilts his head quizzically, not understanding her train of thought, but then it clicks and he chuckles in agreement. “It’s not entirely his fault. To be fair, my dislike of water is a rather recent development.”

“He’s not exactly the most observant person in the world either,” Kimberly adds.

“Nope, not really.”

Billy laughs and he kicks at the water a little bit, watching the tiny waves ripple out. The air is clear and ringing with the giggles and shouts of the other Rangers as they swim around in the deeper parts of the lake. It’s refreshing and serene and almost enough to make Kimberly forget that she’s already seen it before.

“I heard you and Trini fighting.”

Billy’s voice is crisp as it cuts through her thoughts and Kimberly sucks in a quick breath before exhaling it out slowly. “Yep.”   

“Whatever she said, she probably didn’t mean it.” He hesitates thoughtfully before continuing. “I hope you guys make up and get back together. She really likes you, you know.”

“Yeah, we– w-wait, what? We’re not dating.”

He turns to face her, his brow knitted with confusion. “You’re… not?”

Kimberly stares right back at him. “...No?”

“Oh.” Billy looks thoroughly surprised as he purses his lips. “Guess I do owe Jason ten bucks then.”

“Huh?”

_WHAM!_

Kimberly feels the all too familiar feeling of weightlessness as she’s knocked into the air before skidding to a halt against the harsh rocks and foliage, scraping her skin in the process, but despite the pain wreaking havoc on her system, the only thing she can think of is Zack.

She groans disorientedly while trying to regain her bearings, but her world is spinning and her skin feels like it’s on fire and no matter how many times she blinks her eyes, she can’t seem to shake the stars blurring her vision. Fear grips her heart and she hopes against all odds that it’s not too late, that she can still salvage the situation and make things right.

And that’s when she hears it.

A chorus of screams erupt and it sends chills down Kimberly’s spine.

_Oh no._

The flurry of dark feathered figures dance in her doubled vision but as she shakes her head a couple more times, things begin to come back into focus. Lines become solid, blurs solidify - her headache lifts and her muddled thoughts become lucid.

Jason is wailing on one of the birds, screaming like she’s never heard him scream before, but when she scans the area for Zack’s crumpled body, she instead spots him just barely breaching the shallow water, running with Trini right at his side. Curiously, he’s unharmed and perfectly fit. Breathing. Fine. _Alive._

But how?

The anthropomorphic birds continue circling and when they move aside, that’s when she sees him.

Billy.

It’s _Billy_.

He’s curled, writhing on the ground, clutching at his neck as thick streams of deep crimson flow out between his fingers and pour into the cold water that they were standing in just mere seconds before. Eyes wide and mouth agape, he’s staring up at the sky helplessly and she watches in horror as the life slowly drains from his body.

No, no no nono no _no._

This is stupid.

This is _unfair._

If saving Zack was the whole point of going back in time, then why did saving him mean someone else had to take his place?

“This is not what I wanted!” Kimberly cries out as she bangs her fist against the rocky ground.

Anger burns in her chest, lighting her breaths on fire and she just stares at the floor, quivering with rage.

She failed.

Sure, she saved Zack, but at what cost? Now it’s Billy that takes his place? In what universe is that a fair trade? Where did she go wrong? What did she need to do differently? There has to be a way to save everyone, otherwise why else did she repeat the day with prior knowledge?

“Kimberly!”

Kimberly doesn’t know how long she was lying there, but the next thing she knows, Trini’s grabbing her by the arm and hoisting her up. The vicious birds are gone, but the scene laid out before her is just like yesterday.

The yesterday that none of them remember.

The yesterday that Kimberly wishes she could forget.

The team is yelling amongst each other, debating what to do next, what the best possible course of action should be, but she’s not taking part in it; she’s vaguely paying attention. There’s tears in her eyes, but her thoughts are elsewhere moving a million miles a second, desperately contemplating what needs to be fixed. If the day repeated itself once before, who’s to say it won’t happen again?

“We should take him to Zordon,” Kimberly states firmly, effectively interrupting their bickering.

Jason pushes off the ground, his eyes red and livid. “That won’t do shit and you know it!”

“Just _do it,_ ” she responds unflinching. He’s breathing erratically and something in his eyes looks so _broken_ like he’s finally snapped, but Kimberly knows he’s just hurting.

Doesn’t matter, she thinks, you won’t remember this tomorrow.

_But I will._

So they take him to the Command Center and it’s the same goddamn spiel about how there’s nothing that can be done. Jason yells at Kimberly, but she lets him have his moment because she knows he’s not really yelling _at_ her per say. He’s mad. He needs something - someone - to take it out on, so why not her? He’s mad that he let her talk him into bringing him back here, like the last time Billy died, as if there might’ve been a sliver of hope to hang onto.

Alpha says he’ll clean Billy up so they can explain to his mom what happened, and they retreat into the sleeping quarters with misty eyes.

Kimberly lies awake on her bed with the day playing out in her mind like TV show.

Stopping Zack from tripping keeps his leg fine. With his leg fine, he’s okay to swim, but him going in the water leaves Billy exposed, so what, she’s supposed to just… force Billy in the water?

“No, that doesn’t make sense,” Kimberly mutters to herself. Maybe this time she needs help. Maybe she’s supposed to enlist someone else to protect everyone?

She spots a tiny shadow walk up beside her bed and sure enough, the mattress dips down as Trini joins her under the covers. As she curls into Kimberly’s side, her body is shaking just as much as when Zack passed away and a part of Kimberly feels terrible inside because for them, this is real. Tears dampen her shoulder and she pulls Trini in close and after careful consideration, she presses a light kiss to her forehead.

“Everything’ll be okay,” Kimberly whispers softly.

Trini just doesn’t know it yet.

  


//

  


Kimberly’s eyes snap open instinctually and she’s greeted with the pink glow of her tent and the minuscule warmth of her thin sleeping bag. Hope breathes back into her aching chest with renewed vigor.

 

She’s granted another chance.

  
  



	3. The Price

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo I had a rough day. Was trying to finish off the entire story tonight but had to call it at 4k words. I will get to the rest within the next week or so I think, but once again thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has left comments and kudos! 
> 
> Seriously, getting those email notifications with the comments literally brightens my entire day and I really appreciate it!

Springing up out of her covers, Kimberly rolls over to Trini and starts gently shaking her shoulders.

“Trini, Trini wake up!”

“Mmnnggnhnng.”

“Trini, I swear if you don’t wake up this instant I’m going to slap you.”

Trini grumbles and pokes her head out sluggishly. “Kim, I love you and everything, but please leave me alone.”

“No, Trini get up. This is important.”

“So is sleep.”

“Trini, if you don’t wake up, someone’s going to die.”

Now _that_ catches her attention.

“What’s wrong? Are we under attack?” Trini leans up from her sleeping bag with added urgency, halfway prepared to leap into a battle ready stance.

“No, nothing like that.” Kimberly shakes her head before scooting closer, dropping her voice into a low, serious tone. “I know this sounds crazy, but I’ve gone through this day twice before and I can prove it to you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Look,” Kimberly points at the entrance to their tent. “Any second now, Zack is going to come wake us up and shortly after that, Jason burns the potatoes he’s trying to cook.”

Trini snorts with disbelief. “How do you burn potatoes?”

Her question goes unanswered as the distinct sound of crunching leaves and twigs snapping underfoot gets louder and louder until Zack’s head pokes through the tent’s flap.

“Rise and shine everyone; rise and shine!”

They stare at him blankly before he realizes that they’re not actually asleep.

“Oh, you’re already up.” He smiles broadly. “Makes my job easier. C’mon, breakfast is almost ready.”

“Wait, Zack!” Kimberly calls out. “Don’t you uh, want to know what we did last night?”

She has to stall long enough for Jason to burn the potatoes to prove her point to Trini. If they go outside too early, they may interrupt him and she’ll never believe her.

Zack claps his hands excitedly and eyes them both. “Oh ho, what’s this? You girls did stuff last night? Did you do stuff… together? Because then Jason owes me-”

“No, Zack,” Trini growls dangerously, “We did not do anything _like that_. We just went stargazing and saw a shooting star, nothing more.”

“Oh. My bad.”

His reply is oddly muted and Kimberly doesn’t know why Trini seemed slightly offended by the implication that they did stuff last night, nor does she know why the sharp pang in her heart stings as much as it does.

“Jason, I think the potatoes are burning.”

Right on time.

Zack motions to the campfire and grins. “Looks like that’s my cue. Captain Hopeless needs me.”

He disappears back to join the boys and Trini gawks at Kimberly. “You were right. He burned the potatoes.”

“What’d I tell ya?”

They get dressed in a hurry as Kimberly explains the situation to Trini. She recounts the first day and how everything went wrong, starting with Zack slashing his leg from falling off that tree to the attack and to his… death. Then on to the next day where she saves Zack but at the cost of Billy’s life.

“No matter what I did, someone still died at the lake,” Kimberly groans in frustration.

“So you think the day is repeating itself until you get it right and nobody dies?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, what other reason could it be?”

“Okay, fair enough. Why are you telling me this now?” Trini asks as they exit the tent.

“I need your help keeping everyone safe,” Kimberly admits with anguish underlying her words like a tethered ghost. “...I can’t do it alone.”

The pair walk in silence up to the campfire and watch as Zack and Jason squabble over the potatoes while Billy carefully scrapes off the extra burnt parts, blissfully unaware of the fates that befell them in another time.

“I’m sorry,” Trini whispers quietly while observing the boys, “that you had to go through that.”

Shaking her head, Kimberly shrugs it off. “It’s fine.”

“Is it really?”

Zack’s body flashes in her mind.

Billy’s body flashes in her mind.

Blood running everywhere like a free flowing stream, how unnaturally pale they looked and how eerily still death really is. Each experience like a vivid nightmare and likely something Kimberly will _never_ forget.

Trini’s always more attentive than she lets on though. Some find her enigmatic disposition intimidating, but Kimberly knows it’s her way of slipping into the background to silently observe. Despite only having been clued in on the past events just now, she notices the cumulative toll it’s taken on Kimberly and she sees the lasting emotional scars that the pain leaves behind.

She recognizes it’s a pain that none of them will truly understand.

“...One day it will be,” Kimberly responds shakily after nearly being consumed by her own treacherous thoughts. “As long as we get it right this time.”

Trini gazes up at her, unwavering. “I’m with you.”

The sincerity of her words hits Kimberly like a tidal wave, washing over every fibre of her being and filling her with a comforting, uplifting warmth. Her support has been what’s missing in all the past repeats, and it’s exactly what she needs because as much as she prides herself on being a strong individual, carrying such an arduous burden is no easy task. With Trini at her side, the day seems far less daunting and maybe - _just maybe_ \- this time, Kimberly can get it right.

Zack hands out the tin trays with the cooked sausages and charred potatoes to each of the squad members and they proceed to chow down hungrily. Kimberly pushes the uneaten food around on her plate absentmindedly, her eyes instead flickering from one person to the next. She wonders what’s going on in their mind and whether those thoughts change with each repeat. Probably not, judging by how Jason always burns the potatoes and Billy’s dialogue remains the same, but those small trivial musings help deflect against the relentless visions of their gruesome deaths.

After they finish up their meal and tidy up the campsite, they load up their bags in preparation for the nature walk and Kimberly can’t help but groan loudly because _god,_ how many more times is she going to have to walk this beaten path? Kimberly isn’t exactly keen on exercise, and while a mile is no big deal, several miles repeated back to back to back is enough to drive her a little insane.

The boys are a little farther up ahead, chatting indistinctly about the latest videogames and strategies leaving Kimberly to safely discuss her plan of attack with Trini.

“They have razor sharp talons and are larger than Zack, but are pretty quick despite their size. There’s feathers all over their body and I’m pretty sure they had some kind of hardened chest plate, like armor or something.” Kimberly describes them as best she can from memory, but judging by the incredulous look Trini’s throwing her way, her efforts are weak at best.

“So these massive, super fast, Bird baddies came–”

“Can you not call them ‘bird baddies’?” Kimberly protests lightheartedly. “That sounds so lame.”

“Well we’ve got to call them something, and I like the alliteration of bird baddies over bird enemies, which, by the way, sounds ten times lamer.”

Kimberly takes a sip of her water and shrugs. “I didn’t exactly have time to come up with a cool name for them, okay? I was kind of preoccupied fighting for my life.”

“Fine, I guess you’re off the hook,” Trini jokes as she hops over a mossy tree trunk. “Anyways, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by a certain someone, the bird baddies just came out of nowhere?”

Kimberly stows her water bottle away and nods affirmatively. “Each time I was attacked on land first, so I’m guessing they must have circled from the surrounding forest. This time though, I was thinking I should search the perimeter first and have you keep an eye on Billy, that way the bird baddies won’t get the drop on us.”

Trini’s mouth tugs up into a smirk.

Kimberly purses her lips. “What’s so funny?”

“You called them bird baddies.”

Rolling her eyes, Kimberly stifles a grin of her own and gently shoves Trini’s shoulder. “Whatever. Just follow my plan and we’ll be golden.”

Trini salutes dramatically with a sparkle in her eyes. “Aye aye, captain.”

No matter what timeline Kimberly’s in or how many days she’s repeated, or who knows what’s up or down at this point, it’s an indisputable fact that Trini will always be charming and infinitely endearing. It’s like a constant law of the universe, with every successive scenario merely serving to reinforce said law, and without fail, Kimberly’s heart melts just a little bit more.

“Hey Jason, how far away is it?”

Billy’s question triggers Kimberly into action and she’s forced to shove her feelings to the wayside once more to address the situation at hand.

Between the combined efforts of her and Trini, they’re able to successfully talk Zack down from leaping up onto the precarious tree branch by instead daring him to give Trini a piggyback ride, effectively challenging his strength and endurance. It’s a deceptively simple tactic that works perfectly because Zack never turns down a challenge.

Kimberly watches fondly as he weaves and zig zags around the forest with Trini on his back and for a brief moment, she worries that maybe this could result in another moment of injury for either one of them, but as the forest thins out and the lake comes into view, those silly fears dissipate.

“Wow,” Billy exhales as he shields his eyes against the bright reflections to take in the entire scene.

“Wow is right.” Trini echoes his sentiments as she hops off of Zack’s back to drop her bag onto the ground.

“Last one there is a rotten egg!” Zack wastes no time in swiftly stripping his shirt off before chucking it to their pile of belongings and dashes towards the water at full speed with Jason trailing shortly behind him. Billy carefully unties his shoes and folds his clothes up into a tidy pile before venturing out towards the shallows.

Kimberly pulls her top up to reveal her own fuschia bikini top and for a second it gets caught on her hair; of course, leave it to her short hair to still somehow get tangled in fabric. It’s a wonder how her haircut continues to cause problems despite it being more easily manageable, yet here she is caught in her own damn shirt like a buffoon. The air is crisp and cool against her exposed skin and goosebumps riddle her arms, but after a few more seconds of struggling, she manages to shimmy it up and over.

Tossing her top aside, Kimberly starts, “Hey Trini, I think–”

She stops mid-sentence.

Trini’s eyes are wider than usual, her lips parted slightly, chest rising and falling at a shallow, rapid pace. She looks like she’s seen a ghost except her skin isn’t pale - in fact, it’s quite the opposite. There’s a deep rosy tint overtaking her cheeks and her gaze seems hyperfocused on Kimberly, but not Kimberly’s words _._

She’s _gawking._

Maybe it’s from the extra workouts at the gym that Kimberly forces upon herself outside of the demanding Power Ranger training sessions, but she knows her body is toned and relatively fit. The power coins already granted them heightened strength, but she figures it can’t hurt to at least try and maintain it through natural means. It’s just… with Trini staring so intently, Kimberly can’t help but feel a little self-conscious.

“T-Trini, hey uh. Earth to Trini.” Kimberly’s heart is racing and she wonders if Trini feels it too. “You there?”

Trini blinks a couple more times, as if still mesmerized, spellbound by powerful, invisible forces beyond her control, but then she suddenly shakes her head and her focus snaps back to Kimberly’s anxious face. “Yeah, no I’m fine. What?”

“The plan, Trini.”

“What plan?”

“Go keep an eye on Billy while I search around,” Kimberly slowly reminds her as she gestures towards him.

“Yeah, yeah, got it,” Trini mumbles her words hastily before undressing to reveal her swimsuit as well. “I’ll just be uh, going now.”

She scampers off like a frightened rabbit and makes a beeline to join Billy who’s already standing peacefully at the water’s edge. Kimberly suppresses a laugh because in their entire time together, that has to have been the first time she’s _ever_ caught Trini just… staring like that. She looked so flustered - so absolutely bewildered - that in a way, Kimberly can’t help it when her confidence swells. Though she tries her best to hide it, keep it low key, Trini is positively stunning, so eliciting such a visceral reaction from her feels like an impressive god-like feat.

Retreating back to the trees, Kimberly skirts around the border where the clearing meets the forest. Every crunching twig and rustling bush grabs her attention. Her pulse spikes and her breathing draws quicker and quicker. She doesn’t even know which direction the birds might come from.

Hell, for all she knows, they swooped down from the sky.

“No,” she mutters to herself as she presses on past a few scraggly trees, “if they came from the sky then we would’ve spotted them.”

Kimberly leans against a tree and watches Trini chat with Billy in the shallow water. Their backs are to her, but judging by their posture Trini has probably figured out why Billy doesn’t go deeper into the lake. Jason and Zack are farther out in the distance floating on their backs, bobbing up and down in the water like buoys, relaxing without a care in the world.

And then it hits her. Literally.

Anyone in the water would be too preoccupied to notice, and every time Billy’s back was to the trees so of course he only had his peripherals to rely on. That being said, they couldn’t have come from the left or right; they came from directly behind where they dropped all of their belongings in a pile.

Kind of exactly where Kimberly’s standing now.

She hears the branches snap as she’s turning around. The moment she pulls a fast 180, the first bird is already tackling her to the ground, screeching bloody murder into her ears like a deafening siren.

“Kim!”

She hears Trini shout her name, but panic floods Kimberly’s body and she immediately roars back, “Stay with Billy!”

The bird has her pinned to the ground as it swipes at her face, thick black feathers engulfing her vision with obsidian chaos. Kimberly throws her arms up just in time to block the first flurry of slashes, but she’s punished with deep gashes ripping open along the length of her forearms. Pain explodes all over her body like a wildfire, searing her skin and eating her alive. She screams out in agony as blood gushes from the wounds, but adrenaline surges in her system and she manages to buck the bird off in a sudden jerking motion.

Turning the tides in an instant, Kimberly gets the upper hand by twisting around and swinging a solid punch directly at the enemy’s armorless, exposed throat. Airy, hoarse noises croak from the bird’s crushed windpipe like a broken instrument and Kimberly knows its days are numbered.

One down.

Warm liquid streams down her arms but she refuses to look at it because the moment she acknowledges just how bad it really is, there won’t be enough adrenaline in the world that can mask the true, uninhibited pain.

Jason and Zack are just barely out of the water and run headlong to face off against two more birds. Her eyes flick to the side and she spots Billy and Trini tag teaming a single bird. Billy isn’t the strongest at hand-to-hand combat, but Trini is, so they balance each other out perfectly. The bird is agile with lightning-quick reflexes but two against one is still better odds. Kimberly nearly heads towards Jason and Zack to help them out, but movement catches in the corner of her eye and her heart sinks.

Another bird emerges from the woods, headed straight for Trini.

“No…!”

Her feet dig deep as she kicks off the ground, dashing at full speed, frantic and fearful.

She has to make it. Not making it is simply _not an option_. Billy’s eyes widen as the second bird rears into view just beyond his field of vision, but he’s ducking and dodging the immediate threat right in front of him. Trini must’ve noticed the subtle shift in his expression–she pivots in place and prepares to brace herself for a sudden onslaught.

But the onslaught never comes.

Kimberly barrels in at full speed and hurls herself forward to intercept the charging bird. She manages to get a grip on one of its winged arms as she tackles it down and attempts to pull it to the ground with her, but the bird’s other free arm wildly swings down in an arcing motion. A sharp, stinging sensation shoots through her hand as the two hit the floor in a scrawling heap. Kimberly raises her arm, winding up for a devastating punch, but when she tries to clench her hand into a fist, she’s paralyzed with crippling pain. Hazarding a glance, she quickly sees why.

_Oh._

Instead of a fist prepared to strike, she sees a hand.

A debilitated, injured hand covered in glistening crimson blood that’s missing its pinky and ring finger along with half of the middle finger.

No, there’s no way that’s _her_ hand.

Except she wiggles her fingers, well, _tries_ to wiggle her fingers, and sure enough the hand attempts to respond, but there’s just _nothing_ to wiggle. Sheer horror floods throughout her body as it dawns on her that they were slashed clean off - that she’s fucking _missing fingers_ now - and how she has this luckless bird to thank.

With all her might, she clenches her other hand and slams it into the enemy’s face. A sickening crunch crackles through the air as her fist fractures the bird’s beak on impact, its face smashing inward and compressing into a flattened, fleshy mess. Tiny tremors wrack its feathered body, twitching and spasming away the last signs of life, and with two enemies now dead, the others release an ear-piercing screech before taking to the sky.

Kimberly holds her hands out, palms facing up at her, and she stares unblinking and shocked at how they look distinctly different.

I don’t have a pinky anymore, she thinks, or a ring finger.

The adrenaline starts to fade, replaced with white hot pain rapidly blossoming all over her body and she remembers that _oh yeah_ , _I’m probably bleeding out too_ , judging from the long jagged gashes spanning the length of her forearms. The mounting pain becomes exponentially unbearable and the last thing Kimberly remembers is seeing Trini’s face before fading to black.

She wonders if this is what death is like.

Cold, dark, lonely, isolated.

She hates it, she despises the feeling, but she’s already resigned to the fact that there’s nothing left for her, that life is done and over. In the end, she fulfilled her ranger duty and kept everyone safe and that’s all that really matters.

Except death never takes her.

Kimberly’s eyelids are heavy and clumsy as she slowly blinks awake. The blankets are thick and weighty against her chest. There’s tubes and monitors and the faint beeping of her heart and everything’s twenty times louder than it should be thanks to the massive headache throbbing against her temples, but hey, she’s not dead so that’s definitely something.

Her eyes scan the room and she realizes she’s in the infirmary at the Command Center. Thankfully none of the other beds are occupied, so either nobody was hurt, or someone was hurt so bad that no amount of medicine could save them. She sincerely hopes it’s the case of the former, but she can’t know for sure.

The last thing she remembers is seeing Trini’s distressed face before everything went dark. She thought it would be the last thing she’d ever see, which honestly wouldn’t have been such a bad thing at all, but in the quiet, dimly-lit room Kimberly finally notices the tiny figure slumped over on the side of her bed near her waist.

“Trini?” Kimberly croaks out, her voice raspy and guttural. She tries to reach out, but agony shoots through her body like lightning and she hisses in pain.

It’s enough though. Her gasp rouses Trini from her slumped position and recognition lights up her face like christmas and she chokes out in happiness. Lurching forward, Trini throws her arms around Kimberly and hugs her tight.

Kimberly’s body ignites like needles jabbing in all directions, but Trini is hugging her and that’s more than enough reason to help her endure the pain.

“What happened?”

Trini doesn’t move at first, still hugging her tighter than she’s ever hugged her before. Her limbs are shaking and her breathing comes in erratic tiny sniffles. “I th-thought I was going to lose you.”

“Is everyone okay?” Kimberly asks. She has to know that her efforts were worth it.

“Yeah,” Trini replies as she pulls back to breathe. “Nobody died.”

“How long was I out for?”

“Just a couple hours,” Trini says. “We brought you to the Command Center as soon as we could.”

Kimberly’s eyes follow down the length of her arms, passing over the thick sterile dressings until they rest at her heavily bandaged hand. It’s her dominant hand unfortunately, so she’ll have some new things to get used to, but it was worth it. It was a fair trade in her book.

The mattress dips down, pulling her away from her thoughts and Trini maneuvers her way under the blankets to join Kimberly in her bed. It’s a tight, snug fit for the two of them, but they make it work. Trini wraps her arm loosely around Kimberly’s stomach, making sure to not place too much weight on her arms and after the other girl doesn’t complain or protest the movement, she relaxes into her side, her head resting gently on Kimberly’s shoulder.

“You did it,” Trini whispers. “You saved everyone.”

Kimberly hums in agreement. It was sloppy that’s for sure, but Trini’s right–she _did_ save everyone. It came at a cost, but it was a price she’d gladly pay a thousand times over. No more deaths, no more stress, no more what ifs. She finally achieved what she set out to do.

“I couldn’t have done it without you,” Kimberly says appreciatively. “Really, thank you.”

Trini shifts in place and turns just enough to face Kimberly. Her eyes are red and puffy and shimmering like a glistening lake, but they’re deep and intricately profound, hiding layers of pent up emotions and unspoken sentiments. But right now there’s a storm raging within her eyes as she studies Kimberly up close, words dancing at the tip of her tongue.

“I… Kimberly… I uh…” Trini’s biting her lip, as if she has more to say. A part of Kimberly feels like she knows what comes next, anticipating the following admission, or even an action that she thinks she’s finally ready for, but Trini’s brow upturns anxiously and fear surfaces to the forefront. “Jason said we’ll go back to camp tomorrow morning after you’re rested.”

The words spill out of Trini’s mouth and before Kimberly can even react, Trini swiftly breaks eye contact and instead nestles into her side. Kimberly can’t tell if it’s disappointment or fatigue, or some stupid mixture in between, but her body grows heavy and consciousness becomes a chore so she stops fighting the inevitable.

“Goodnight Trini.”

 

//

 

It was a great night.

It was a fantastic night.

Exhaustion makes sleep seem ten times better. When Kimberly wakes, she feels amazingly well-rested.

In fact, maybe a little… _too_ well-rested.

No.

No.

_No._

She’s in a pink tent. She’s in her sleeping bag. She clenches her hands and they feel perfectly fine. She hears the twigs snapping underfoot and she wants nothing more than to scream at the top of her lungs because what the _fuck_.

“Rise and shine everyone; rise and shine!”


	4. Eternal Bonds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for everyone's comments! I really appreciated everything you all had to say and it seriously kept me going through the past several weeks. 
> 
> I apologize that it took so long to pump this chapter out, but I hope you enjoy the conclusion to this xena-inspired fic!

Zack’s bright voice and chipper attitude fails to quell the bitter hopelessness pooling in the pit of Kimberly’s stomach.

Where did she go wrong?

Her eyes glaze over as she slowly tunes out the playful banter volleying back and forth between Zack and Trini, their voices dulling into an indistinct muffle. Though it was certainly a rough and sloppy execution, Kimberly had managed to save everyone. Nobody died, nobody was hurt, and it only came at the cost of a few fingers, but at least they were all still _alive._

All of those painstaking days full of heartache, full of debilitating loss, full of nightmare fuel enough to last her for years to come–what did that effort even amount to? Apparently jack shit, because here she is, repeating the same damn day - _again_ \- and she has absolutely no clue as to how to break the cycle. She had assumed that saving everyone was the main goal, but now she’s not so sure.

What if there really isn’t anything she can do? What if she’s died and gone to hell and this groundhog’s day is her punishment for her past transgressions? For all of the terrible acts she committed against her old friends and her admittedly vicious nature? It’s definitely a stretch, but that’s certainly what it _feels_ like right now.

“What the hell!” Kimberly bursts out abruptly, her clenched fist slamming onto the cold ground and startling the other two Rangers.

Zack whistles loudly while rolling his eyes in a sarcastic, playful manner. “Alright, alright drama queen, I’ll let you sleep in a little more.”

He ducks his head out of the tent leaving the two girls alone. Kimberly can feel Trini’s gaze lingering on her, studying her face, analyzing her expression, and she already knows Trini can tell that something is off.

Kimberly takes a deep breath and rattles off quickly. “The day is repeating itself, I’ve lived through this day three times already, no one besides me ever remembers anything, I’ve seen two of you die on separate occasions, Jason always burns the potatoes, I have no idea how to make it stop, and no I am not shitting you.”

Trini absorbs the information, her eyebrow raising up oddly in response. “Oookay.”

The clinking of dented tin plates, crackling fire, and a melody of morning sounds - chirping birds, rustling leaves, and a soothing breeze - permeates the air, filling the gap of silence between the two girls.

Of _course_ it sounds ridiculous. A time paradox is beyond the point of crazy, and at this point it almost doesn’t even matter if Trini believes her or not. A skeptical look riddles her face, as if Kimberly had just sprouted another head right before her very eyes, but then Billy’s voice drifts through the tent, effectively snuffing out any of Trini’s lingering incredulity.

“Jason, I think the potatoes are burning.”

A string of profanities fire off, shortly followed by more scuffling of pots and cooking utensils and it’s then that Trini narrows her eyes at Kimberly suspiciously.

“How did you...?”

“I literally just told you.” Kimberly sighs brokenly, her gaze downcast and fixed to the floor.

Tossing open her sleeping bag covers, Trini crawls closer to Kimberly and shakes her head. “No way, don’t pull that vague crap on me. You just predicted the freaking future, you’ve gotta tell me what’s happening. Don’t shut me out.”

“None of it matters.”

“Like hell it doesn’t!” Trini’s frown deepens. “How can I help you if you won’t tell me what’s wrong?”

“Look, I’ve gone through this day so many times and I’ve watched you all die and the one time that I got it right, the _one time_ that I managed to save you all? I woke up here anyways because apparently my actions don’t mean anything!”

Trini inhales sharply. Kimberly still can’t bring herself to look Trini in the eyes, but she can feel her boring into her like a hawk, scrutinizing any shift or change in body language. Kimberly’s frustrated and she hates how she’s taking it out on Trini, but what does it even matter? It’s not like she’s going to even remember.

“Well,” Trini starts cautiously, afraid of triggering another tirade, “maybe you’re trying to solve the wrong problem.”

Kimberly scoffs cynically. “I’m pretty sure one of you guys dying constitutes a big problem.”

“No, you said that only happens during the day, which means it’s a part of the loop.” Trini’s eyes dart back and forth, as if searching for an invisible answer that she just can’t see. “Have you figured out what caused the loop to start?”

Furrowing her brow, Kimberly racks her brain for a solid explanation but finds herself coming up short. It never crossed her mind that the events of the day might just have been a coincidence and not causation for the repeating time, and if that’s the case, then there could be a myriad of reasons as to what brought this curse about.

Just as she’s about to brainstorm theories, Zack’s impatient voice hollers from outside.

“If you ladies don’t come out of that tent, I’m going to eat both your portions!”

On any other day Kimberly would have some witty retort or sharp comeback to Zack’s silly antics, but right now she doesn’t have it in her. Not when she has the world’s worst mystery to solve with her sanity hanging precariously in the balance.

Before she can get any further lost in thought or consumed by harrowing concerns, Trini’s hand rests on her shoulder. The weight is reassuring and comforting and reminds her that she’s not in this alone.

“Kimberly...”

It’s a soft plea that easily compels her to lift her head up. Trini’s eyes are sparkling and powerful - _radiant_ even - both instantly captivating and inspiring all at once.

“We’ll figure this out. You know I’ve always got your back.”

Trini squeezes her shoulder for added emphasis as if her words alone didn’t already fill Kimberly’s chest with the warmth of a thousand fiery suns. Even if Trini never uttered a single breath, just her gaze itself and the conviction behind those impassioned, steadfast eyes is more than enough to implicitly convey her committed resolve - a resolve so earnest that it continues to span across every timeline.

Mustering up a small smile, Kimberly’s at such a loss that she can only manage a subtle nod. “I know you do.”

They throw on some clothes and tidy up their sleeping bags before leaving the tent with Zack greeting them with a jovial wave.

“Finally, the sleeping beauties decide to grace us with their presence.”

“Oh har har, Mister I-Need-Seven-Hours-Of-Sleep-Or-I’ll-Die,” Trini retorts sarcastically.

“How else am I gonna look this good?” Says Zack as he winks at them. “Besides, I slept at a decent hour last night while you were both doing whatever girls do at sleepovers. Braiding each other’s hair? Gossiping about celebrities?”

Trini rolls her eyes and smiles. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“Duh, that’s why I’m asking.”

“None of the above,” Kimberly states as Billy hands her a plate of extra crispy potatoes. “We were stargazing and lost track of time. The sky is really clear out here so we got to see several constellations.”

“Plus we saw a shooting star,” Trini adds. “How cool is that?”

Billy gasps, his eyes lighting up with excitement. “What did you guys wish for? You’re always supposed to wish upon a shooting star. Wait, wait, no, don’t tell me, otherwise it won’t come true.”

“Hey, hey, we’re losing focus.” Zack starts to snap his fingers to grab their attention. “What we should be concentrating on is the fact that our fearless leader burnt the easiest breakfast in the world.”

“Lay off, man.” Jason groans in protest. “You try cooking the potatoes next time if you’re such an Iron Chef.”

It’s an all too familiar conversation that has bile rising in the back of Kimberly’s throat as macabre visions of Billy and Zack’s bodies lying crumpled like broken puppets in the shallows near the lake.

No, this time it will be different.

“Guys, I have something to say.” Kimberly stares at her plate as the other Rangers stop what they’re doing to listen intently. “I already told Trini, but I think I should tell everyone.”

Zack inhales another bite of food before asking with a full mouth, “Tell us what?”

“This may sound stupid and totally fake... but I’m... stuck in some kind of twisted groundhog’s day and I’ve already lived through this same day multiple times. I’m not entirely sure how to stop it, but I have a feeling it involves keeping everyone alive and–”

“Keeping us alive?” Jason interjects loudly, alarming concern readily apparent. “What are you talking about?”

“I watched Zack and Billy die–”

“You _what_!?” Potatoes spew out of Zack’s mouth in a starchy flurry.

Billy shakes his head vigorously, heavy anxiety clear as day in his trembling tone. “I–If this is some kind of joke, I don’t find it very funny.”

“I’m not kidding you, just please let me finish,” Kimberly replies heatedly, annoyed that they aren’t letting her get a word in edgewise. When she notices their mouths close despite obvious questions still lurking at the tip of their tongues, she continues on. “I’ve gone through this day a few times now and each time we get attacked at the lake by these giant bird things–”

“I had plans to take us to the lake today,” Jason gasps, taken aback by how she knew of the secret destination. Kimberly shoots a stern glare at him before he dips his head sheepishly.

“As I was saying, someone always gets hurt. The first time Zack died, the second time it was Billy, and while the third scenario nobody was killed, I ended up losing a few fingers.” She flexes her hand and sees the ghosts of what could have been, the mere memories sending shivers down her spine.

“So my gut feeling is that I need to save everyone and make sure we all come out in one piece, so to speak. Trini has offered up another idea that perhaps that isn’t the reason that I’m stuck in this time loop, but for now that’s what I’m rolling with.”

Zack sets his plate down and claps his hands together eagerly. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s just go straight to the lake and take these guys out. Get the drop on them this time!”

“If we’re fully prepared, then we should stand a far greater chance at succeeding,” Billy adds optimistically.

Chewing at her bottom lip apprehensively, Kimberly sucks in a quick breath. “I don’t know, these things were fast and insanely strong.”

“Then we morph,” Jason says. “We’ll go in there suited up.”

“But what if that doesn’t work?”

“Well what if it does?” Jason fires back. “Can’t hurt to try.”

Except it _can_ , Kimberly thinks darkly; _god_ can it hurt so bad.

They don’t have to live with this for the rest of their lives, they haven’t seen the things she’s seen–it may have been temporary, but watching her friends die over and over leaves her with memories too vivid to erase. Imagining something versus actually living it delivers such a vastly different experience that it’s essentially night and day.

Their expectant faces are trained on her, waiting for confirmation to go ahead with the plan, and though it’s straightforward and risky, there aren’t any alternatives being offered up.

Kimberly reluctantly nods. “Let’s do it.”

After tidying up the campsite somewhat, the Rangers head straight for the lake, running through the thick forest with one goal in mind. At least it’s a departure from the regular hiking pace that Kimberly was dreading from the past iterations.

Wind whips through her hair and twigs crunch underfoot as they dash at a blistering pace, all the while steeling their nerves for the upcoming confrontation. She fills them in on the anthropomorphic birds and their attack patterns, their strength, speed, any major characteristics that may give them an edge from knowing beforehand. They may not know what to expect, but she sure does, and the more she expands upon the enemies’ traits, the stronger her confidence mounts.

This could be it, this could be the one. Having her whole team on her side, fully informed and prepared–maybe _this_ was what was missing. They’re a team for a reason and trying to fix things on her own could very well have been the key factor contributing to her prior failures.

Not this time.

Not today.

With no sidetracking or distractions, they make it to the destination in record time. The dense forest rapidly thins out as the shimmering lake comes into view looking as breathtaking as ever.

“Wow,” Billy exhales while shielding his eyes against the bright reflections to take in the entire scene.

“Wow is right.” Trini echoes his sentiments as they all come to a stop in the middle of the clearing.

Zack surveys the area and a low whistle escapes his lips. “We definitely have to come back here once this is all over.”

“Let’s save the sight seeing for later,” says Jason as he clenches his fists. “It’s morphing time.”

Vivid crimson rapidly materializes along Jason’s body, intertwining with thin, luminescent blues like sinewy liquid before hardening into his signature suit. The other Rangers soon follow, their corresponding colors erupting across their entire body in a brilliant display and encasing them in layers of lightweight, plated armor.

Kimberly blinks a few times, her eyes adjusting to the augmented visor interface, before pointing to the forest and speaking into their integrated communicators. “The first bird comes from that direction, but the rest appear from the sides.”

The comm link crackles to life and Jason’s voice fills their ears. “Alright let’s fan out, secure the perimeter and–”

“No way,” Kimberly interrupts immediately, “we shouldn’t be splitting up.”

“So what, you want us to just wait here like sitting ducks?”

“Better than us getting picked off one by one.”

“You don’t know that that will happen,” Jason counters. “We have our armor now and–”

“–and you’re not listening to me!” Kimberly cuts him off. “You’re underestimating them because you haven’t seen what they are capable of yet.”

“Guys, guys heads up!” Billy’s raised voice catches their attention as the first enemy rears its ugly head.

With an ear-piercing screech akin to nails on a chalkboard, the bird charges at full speed headed straight for Jason. Rather than staying on the defensive, pebbles and dirt kick up in Jason’s wake as he sprints headlong to meet the bird face to face. Just as they’re about to clash, he ducks down and swings out his leg in a wide, sweeping arc aiming to catch his foe off-guard, but the bird responds quickly by leaping forward in the air to avoid the low attack.

In mid-jump, the bird thrusts its legs out backwards and nails Jason with a powerful direct kick sending him skidding through the dirt. Rocks fly every which way as his body hits the ground hard, but before Kimberly can join the fray, Zack’s yelling fills their helmets as more birds emerge from the forest one by one, adding to the turmoil.

Kimberly spots Jason scramble to his feet and she hopes that he’s right that their armor will give them an edge in battle, especially when she notices a yellow blur joined shortly with a black one in her peripherals engage with one of the incoming foes.

The hairs on the back of her neck stand on edge and her breathing comes in rapid, shallow puffs as she breaks into a cold sweat.

Trini will be safe.

Zack is with her.

Two on one. It’s fine. They’ll be fine. Everything is fine.

Eyes darting around, Kimberly sees nothing but feathers and a flurry of colors, accompanied by distressed grunts and unearthly squawking and it’s pure mayhem. This isn’t what she had in mind when she pictured them being prepared as a team to face off against this threat, and whatever confidence she previously had built up before the skirmish occurred has all but vanished with the current state of things.

 _No_ , Kimberly thinks gravely, _I have to believe this will work._

Except there’s a little voice nagging at the back of her mind, like an itch she can’t scratch–the same nagging voice that’s dredging up reminders of her past failures and rooting her to the ground in fear.

And that’s when she hears it.

“Kim!”

She hears her name being called through the fog in her mind, like a boat’s horn sounding out at sea during a misty morning. Distant and echoing but there nonetheless, it’s a warning that she wants to heed, but her body feels inexplicably frozen in time.

“Kim!”

She sees the bird coming at her with its unnerving, beady eyes and gleaming talons. It’s the same way they’ve looked in every monotonous repeat–the same way they’re always _going_ to look because she can _never_ escape them.

“Kimberly _move!”_

She doesn't know why she didn't move. Maybe it’s the guilt of momentarily surrendering to the idea that none of this matters - that she’s just going to wake up and do it all again - but the sheer magnitude of pain that rips through Kimberly’s heart and utterly tears her soul asunder when that yellow blur pushes her out of the way is enough to cripple her to the point that death would be such a sweet mercy.

They say there’s a couple of defining moments in everyone’s lives. For some, that moment comes at a young age when one is forced to overcome an ordeal shoved upon them, where their ensuing path leads down a road with no return. For others, that moment doesn’t happen until they’re older, when they _think_ they’ve seen it all and weathered through any disaster that life has hidden up its nasty sleeves.

One, five, fifteen, even forty years from now, if someone asked Kimberly what one of her defining moments was, she’d recount a story that none bore witness to but solely herself.

Because time loop be _damned_ , watching the bird’s talons shred through Trini’s suit as if it were nothing, like a hot knife through butter and hearing her scream - oh _god_ that _scream_ \- echo in her helmet is something Kimberly will _never_ forget.

Trini had pushed Kimberly out of the way and in doing so took the hit meant for her. Much to everyone’s surprise, sparks exploded out of the armor like fireworks as it failed miserably to protect against the bird’s vicious attack.

It’s Zack all over again.

Gaping, jagged gashes span across the greater part of Trini’s torso and neck.The Ranger armor looks like it’s trying to repair itself, struggling against all odds to cover up the offending visual of just how deep the wounds go, but the alien technology fails to reconnect and she’s left looking like a gruesome sunset as glaring red blood gushes down the front of her yellow suit.

Her garbled screams of agony mix with Zack’s bellowing rage as he pummels the enemy bird into a crumpled bloody pulp and it’s just _too much_.

Kimberly’s at Trini’s side just as her body hits the ground. The other remaining birds flee into the sky but all she can focus on is how small and fragile Trini feels in her arms and how quickly her young life is slipping away.

“N-no…!”  Warm tears sting her vision as Kimberly’s visor retracts with Trini’s following suit shortly after.

Trini’s eyebrows are turned up in a desperate plea for more time, her normally sparkling eyes clouded with regret and her inevitable mortality, as she violently coughs up a splatter of blood while struggling to maintain consciousness.

“K-k...Kim–”

“This wasn’t supposed to happen!” Kimberly chokes out in frustration. “Why did you push me out of the way? Why’d you have to go and be a _fucking hero_?!”

Widespread panic crashes over Kimberly’s rational thought.

What if this was it?

What if the day _doesn’t_ repeat itself?

From past experience that doesn’t seem likely, but fear is hissing at the back of her mind, whispering sinister ideas and treacherous notions. What if she’s squandered her chances thinking she had all the time in the world? For all she knows, the amount of tries that the fates granted her was finite. For all she knows, _this_ could be her new reality. For all she knows, she’s lost Trini forever.

Trini reaches up and cups Kimberly’s cheek weakly.

“K-Kim… I… I lo… l-love… y… y...”

Eyes wide open but unseeing, her hand slowly slips down mid-sentence before falling limply onto her chest. Her body, trembling no more, sinks heavily in Kimberly’s grasp.

“Trini?”

A tiny whimper escapes Kimberly’s quivering lips. She shakes her gently as if the other girl is simply asleep, as if a tiny nudge or some patient urging would stir her into waking up, but with each ticking second it becomes more and more apparent that that will never be the case.

“Trini…?”

Nothing.

The birds stopped chirping, the wind stop blowing, time itself feels like it’s screeched to a sudden halt because for Kimberly it practically has. She’s lost her best friend, a fellow Power Ranger, and above all else, a piece of her heart.

It’s the day the world went away.

“Kimberly… I think she’s…” Jason trails off because nobody wants to hear that ugly word.

She knows damn well that Trini’s gone. Repeat or not it fucking _hurts_.

It’s exactly like the other repeats, just like Zack, just like Billy, but this time it feels _different_ because it’s _Trini_.

The girl who was shrouded in mystery when they first met, hiding behind her calm indifference and snarky remarks, but still found it in her to share her water when asked and continued to show up just because Jason insisted. She’s audacious and temperamental, but also remarkably caring and loyal to no end, and any time she smiles, it’s an irrefutable fact that the world just gets a little bit brighter.

Never in a million years did Kimberly picture herself being friends with such a wallflower, but now she can’t bear to live a life without her in it.

When she sees her future, she sees Trini.

She sees laughter, she sees happiness, and up until now it wasn’t very certain, but the stark clarity that death provides has yanked back the veil on her hapless feelings and she’s come to realize that there’s so much more.

_She sees love._

She’s done denying the incessant yearning that’s been trying to claw its way to the surface only to be shut down by fear or doubt. If she doesn’t set things right, then the regret of her inaction will eat her alive and follow her to the grave.  

Staring at Trini’s shredded armor, a pronounced scowl spreads across Kimberly’s face, her brow furrowed and nostrils flaring, because there’s no fucking way she’s going to let it end like this. Gritting her teeth, she hoists Trini into her arms and begins striding away, her feet stomping heavily with each step.

“Where are you going?” Jason asks calmly as the rest of the Rangers trail close behind.

She ignores him completely and stays the course. He doesn’t ask again. None of the other Rangers ask either, but her destination becomes clear once they reach the ravine leading to the Command Center.

The sadness is overwhelming, filling her past the point that any one person can even bear, so she tries to ignore it, tries to shove it aside. She focuses on the anger because there’s no room for anything else in her heart right now besides crippling sorrow and heartache.

It doesn’t take long before she’s reached the main room and rests Trini’s body down, forcing Zordon and Alpha to see. Tears still welling in the corner of her red, puffy eyes, Kimberly points at Trini’s slashed chest and shouts at them both, demanding an explanation.

“I thought our armor was supposed to protect us! Keep us safe from harm!”

“W-well yes,” Alpha sputters out, “it should in theory provide a nigh impenetrable defense against most forms of attack but–”

“But what?!” Kimberly screams hysterically as she advances upon Alpha. “Tell me how this happened! Tell me how a simple enemy cut through her armor like it was nothing?!”

She slams her fists against Alpha’s cold metallic chest over and over while the other Rangers watch in somber silence. Alpha doesn’t move, doesn’t say a word - he stands there and takes it because while he doesn’t quite understand teenagers entirely, he does understand loss. He knows what Zordon went through with his team and the survivor’s guilt he’s harbored from failing them all when they needed him most. Besides, Alpha’s body is crafted from a mixture of powerful synthesized materials making him highly durable and if beating him up is her coping mechanism, then so be it.

But her childish punches gradually lessen, her fists now balled up and resting on Alpha’s shoulders as the tears stream down her cheeks.

Sniffling softly, Kimberly’s voice comes out barely above a whisper. “Tell me why Trini is dead.”

Zordon’s head swivels around the large cubed screen to get a closer look and he frowns. “Very few foes can cut through Ranger armor.”

“It was these bird things,” Billy informs him. “Giant, people-sized birds.”

“Were they silver with gold? Black with gold? Black with purple?”

“The last one!” Zack chimes in. “Giant black feathers with purple armor.”

“Ah yes, we’ve seen that before. Those are the fearsome Tenga warriors,” Alpha announces as his chest projects a holographic diagram of the birds. “Individually they are somewhat manageable, but they rarely travel alone and thus should always be addressed as a team.”

Jason shakes his head. “But we did that and Trini still ended up like… like this.”

“Because your team is still young and learning, an array of weapons is what you need,” Zordon says as the console at the head of the morphing grid begins to glow. Jason’s Power Sword emerges along with a few other weapons they have yet to encounter: a long blue lance with blades on either end, a large black axe, a pink composite bow, and a pair of compact yellow daggers.

Kimberly nearly laughs at how small the daggers are because assuming from the color she knows who they would have belonged to. Trini would have grumbled about their size, Zack would have teased her, cracked some pint-sized joke or something of the sort, and everyone would have laughed.

But no one’s laughing now.

Swiping her forearm across her face, Kimberly wipes away any remnants of tears and starts heading towards the sleeping quarters.

Sighing heavily, Jason calls after her half-heartedly though he already knows what her answer will be. “Kimberly where are you going?”

He’s met with silence.

Her footsteps echo in the hallway as she hears their voices fading away in the distance. They’re discussing what to do with her body, how they’re going to tell her family - all of the things that they discussed in each timeline. It’s always the same, just a different Ranger, a different pain.

Kimberly crawls into the bed furthest from the door and rolls over on her side. Over time the other Rangers file into the room. She feels their stares penetrating her back, feels their unending sympathy radiating in her direction because they understand the deep connection that the two girls shared. But as the lights turn off, shrouding the room in darkness, they can’t even begin to comprehend the loneliness strangling her heart or the way her insides sting and burn like countless needles puncturing her insides in an endless torture.

She holds onto the slim comfort that the day will repeat itself. She’ll wake up in her tent, roll over to her side and see Trini’s grumpy, beautiful face.

Kimberly tosses and turns in her bed, the needles digging deeper, her insides twisting into an excruciating knot.

What if she’s wrong?

No, no you idiot, don’t think those things.

This is just temporary.

This is just another blip in her sequence of bad dreams.

_It has to be._

They are supposed to graduate together, agonize over the future together, save the world together, grow old together, and though this line of Power Rangers responsibility doesn’t necessarily guarantee any of those things she thought they’d at least have a little more time. If the day doesn’t reset like she’s banking on, then none of that will ever have a chance to come to fruition.

Kimberly tosses in her bed once more before settling on her back staring up at the grey ceiling. She has a harder time falling asleep this time around. It doesn’t help that Zack’s snores are louder than a wounded bear, but mainly it’s the fact that no matter how long she waits, her bed never dips down. Trini isn’t there to join her under the covers, to console her over the day’s events, or hold her tight to shield against the cruelties of fairness and fate.

So she weeps silently into the night until she has nothing left.

  


//

  


For the first time in a long time, as Kimberly groggily begins to wake, when she’s greeted with the flamingo pink hues of her cheaply made tent it’s relief that floods her system. Her eyes instantly snap wide open in realization and she throws her covers off her body before scrambling frantically to her right. In the mess of blankets and sleeping bag material, Kimberly digs around until Trini’s head pokes out from beneath the various layers.

Scrunching her nose at the sudden gust of cold air and offending sunlight pooling on her face, Trini opens her eyes and glares at Kimberly, grumpy that she was woken before their alarm clock.

“Kim, I love you and everything, but please leave me alone.”

A joyous choked sob escapes Kimberly’s lips, and she can’t help it when fresh tears start falling against her will but she’s seeing Trini in a new light and her heart has never felt better. Trini’s brow furrows, her sparkling dark eyes now washed over with both concern and confusion as she props herself up on her elbows.

“Is something wrong?”

 _No_ , Kimberly thinks to herself as a tiny smile spreads across her features, _everything is perfect._

And everything really is perfect, from the way Trini’s messy morning hair catches the light and shines ethereally, or how the dip of her collarbone is exposed from beneath her loose shirt and is driving Kimberly absolutely mad because she wants to cover the entire area with feverish kisses. There will be a time for that and so much more later because there’s only one thing she wants to do right now.

Kimberly surges forward and captures Trini’s lips with her own in one swift, fervent motion. It’s desperate and bold, charged with the feelings of past tragedies that Trini doesn’t understand and never will, and while her eyes spring wide open from the initial shock of the unexpected action, it doesn’t take long for her to melt into the kiss and reciprocate in full.

It’s everything Kimberly didn’t even know she needed in her life and now she never wants it to _stop_ because Trini’s lips are somehow _even softer_ than they look and when her hand snakes its way up the nape of her neck to pull her closer, Kimberly is pretty sure she’s died and gone to heaven.

So she follows the urging and plants both arms on either side of Trini, pressing their bodies together, _needing_ to be closer to feel each other’s racing heartbeats. And then Trini whimpers - actually _whimpers_ \- almost like a tiny puppy and Kimberly smiles into the kiss because Trini’s _never_ made a noise like that and it’s quite possibly the cutest sound she’s ever heard.

God, Kimberly had no idea that _this_ was what she was missing out on, but now that her doubts and apprehensions have been thrown out the window and cast aside for greater things, she fully intends on making up for lost time.

Trini parts her lips and Kimberly takes advantage by slipping her tongue inside, eliciting a low moan from Trini’s throat and causing Kimberly to shudder uncontrollably from the heated desire burning through her veins. Their controlled breathing is rapidly dissolving into a mess of erratic puffs and husky moans and Kimberly doesn’t know how much more she can _take_ before losing control and succumbing to the impassioned impulses running rampant in her mind. Like how she’s _dying_ to run her hand along every inch of Trini’s skin and map every curve, dip, and angle until it’s committed to memory by heart, or how she wants to find every sensitive spot capable of drawing out the entirety of Trini’s moans. There’s so many more things she wants to do to her when–

“Rise and shine everyone; rise and–oH MY GOD!”

They failed to hear Zack’s footsteps and the poor boy peered in for barely a few seconds before closing the tent’s entrance abruptly like he had just burnt his hand on a stove resulting in Kimberly jerking away from Trini in surprise.

“I’ll uh, let you guys have some more time,” he stutters out, his voice wavering and unsteady from somewhere outside. “J-just letting you know that b-breakfast is almost ready.”

“Sorry Zack, we’ll be there in a second!” Trini calls out, her voice cracking from restraint, before breaking into a fit of laughter. Kimberly missed her laugh so, _so_ much, and hearing it once more makes her join in too because it’s bright and genuine and damn contagious. It’s one of her most favorite sounds in the world, and she hopes she’ll continue to hear it for the rest of her life.

Calming down, Trini turns her head to face Kimberly, her features still exuberant but with an air of underlying nervousness.

“So… was that a one-time thing or…?”

“No,” Kimberly replies almost instantly. “It was more of a, _I-want-to-keep-doing-this-for-a-long-time_ kind of thing.”

Trini stares at her for a few more moments, probering her for any other signs. “...Why now?”

“It’s a long story which I’ll tell everyone in a second, but I had a recent run-in with death that lead to this epiphany.”

Trini stares at Kimberly like she’s crazy because by all accounts they’ve spent the last day or so together at the mountain so she would have known of any recent lethal encounters, but she shrugs it off. Exhaling a quick little breath, she shakes her head as her mouth quirks into a halfway, crooked grin.

“You know it’s weird,” Trini starts quietly. “It’s almost like a dream come true.”

Kimberly frowns. “What do you mean?”

“Last night when we saw that shooting star, I wished that you would figure out your feelings before it was too late,” she says jokingly, “because you never know when we might kick the bucket. Billy got lucky once, but we don’t have that option anymore, and with you not exactly pushing away my attempts at flirting I just thought… I don’t know. I mean I guess I was right all along so it doesn’t matter and– and… you’re not listening to me anymore are you?”

 _You’ve_ got _to be shitting me_.

Eyes wide in utter disbelief, Kimberly just gapes at her wordlessly.

How can…

There’s no way…

But it checks out.

“ _You’re_ the reason why I’ve been repeating the day over and over again?!” Kimberly damn near shouts but catches herself.

Trini raises her eyebrow quizzically. “What are you talking about?”

“That’s exactly what I was going to explain, but I’ve been repeating this day over and over like some twisted groundhog’s day movie and I had no idea how to make it stop. I think your wish is what triggered the whole situation.”

“You’re shitting me,” Trini scoffs. “That’s impossible.”

Kimberly recites perfectly from memory, “Jason, I think the potatoes are burning.”

Trini’s mouth opens, another question at the tip of her tongue when Billy’s voice drifts through the air right on cue.

“Jason, I think the potatoes are burning.”

They hear a string of profanities rattle off and it’s Trini’s turn to gape.

“No way.”

“Yes way,” Kimberly affirms. “I’ve lived through this day numerous times, but this time I know what we need to do.”

“Lead the way, Princess.”

The girls throw on some clothing and leave the tent. They spot Billy patting Jason’s back while saying encouraging words like “don’t listen to Zack” and “of course you’re a great cook” as Zack waves at the girls invitingly.

“Finally, the sleeping beauties decide to grace us with their presence. Or should I say… not sleeping beauties? Because from what I saw, I doubt there was much sleeping going on last–YOUCH!”

He’s abruptly cut short as Trini slugs him the shoulder, her face a deep beet red. “Not another word or else I’ll kick you in a certain place so hard it’ll make your grandchildren cry.”

“Okay, okay crazy girl, I hear ya.”

Suppressing a chuckle, Kimberly claps her hands and addresses the team. “Everyone listen up, I have something important to say.”

She relays the info regarding the fact that she’s been in a time loop for the past few days. They don’t believe her at first, they say there’s just no way; they’ve been at the mountain for barely a day. However she discloses the ‘secret’ location of the lake and Jason confirms that he had plans to take them there and hadn’t told anyone yet of his intentions. Trini further adds what happened with Billy and Jason’s burnt potatoes.

They listen in silent wonder as she recounts the vicious birds, their capabilities, and the horrors she had to endure and the memories that plague her mind. Trini grasps her hand, intertwining their fingers, as Kimberly mentions everyone’s deaths.

It becomes readily apparent to Trini as to what caused Kimberly’s sudden epiphany regarding her feelings. Tears tug at the corners of her eyes, but Kimberly squeezes her hand and tells her that this is the time they’ll get it right and that none of them will have to go through what she did.

“Why can’t we just avoid the lake altogether?” Billy asks reasonably. “That would solve the dying problem, wouldn’t it?”

“No, that would only delay the confrontation,” Jason says. “I’m sure if these birds show up at the lake now, they’d eventually make their way to Angel Grove and we’d still end up fighting them. I’d rather do it in an isolated location than a crowded city block.”

Kimberly nods in agreement. “Exactly. In the first few resets, we weren’t properly equipped or even remotely prepared, but this time I know what we need to do.”

They finish up the rest of their somewhat edible breakfast before tidying up the campsite and setting out for the Command Center. The jog through the forest is crisp and refreshing and for the first time in any of the resets, Kimberly is filled with indisputable confidence. She’s cracked the reason behind her unending nightmare, confessed to Trini resulting in the best possible outcome beyond what she could have imagined, and now they’ll be armed to the teeth to take down the Tenga Warriors.

Dashing through the dense forest, Kimberly looks over at Trini and gratitude fills her heart. She’s been given a new lease on life, given another chance to get it right, and she only hopes that this will be the last time she’ll ever have to try.

Trini catches Kimberly watching her and flashes her a little smile that warms her chest and fills her with hope.

After reaching the Command Center and with thorough convincing because according to Zordon ‘time travel is impossible,’ he relinquishes the weapons to the team.

Trini holds her daggers up and her face screws in protest. “Why do I get the daggers?”

“Tiny weapons for a tiny person!” Zack cackles with glee as he wildly swings around his battle axe like a kid in a candy store, earning him another punch on the shoulder. He jokingly whines that he bruises like a delicate peach but Trini ignores his griping and socks him again in the same spot. Jason and Billy laugh at their antics and the whole scene hits Kimberly hard, enough to rob her of her breath momentarily because it’s exactly what she pictured and it feels so right. She joins in the laughter before the team settles down and decides to head for the lake, fully morphed and ready for action.

It’s a quicker run from the Command Center to the lake, and as the trees begin to thin out and the shimmering lake rears into view, there isn’t a trace of dread coursing through Kimberly’s nerves.

“Wow,” Billy exhales as he shields his eyes against the bright reflections to take in the entire scene.

“Wow is right.” Trini echoes his sentiments as they fan out across the pebbled shore.

Zack surveys the area and a low whistle escapes his lips. “We definitely have to come back here once this is all over.”

“For sure, but right now don’t let your guard down. These things can slice through our armor so don’t get careless,” Kimberly warns as she readies her Power Bow. “Also since I solved the reason for why the day has been repeating, I don’t know if the day will still reset if we mess this up.”

“Got it,” the team responds in unison.

Kimberly’s eyes flick in Trini’s direction and for a second she’s tormented by the vision of her lifeless body, but she shakes her head vigorously to rid herself of the memory and focuses on the task at hand.

This time will be different; she truly believes it.

At the first sign of rustling trees and snapping branches, Kimberly trains her sights at the forest’s perimeter before letting her arrow fly. It helps that she knows exactly where the first bird emerges, but the empowered arrow pierces the unfortunate foe straight through its feathered chest and it falls to the ground hard, twitching and convulsing before ultimately going still.

“Yeah! Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Billy cheers just as the other Tenga Warriors swarm out from the forest, squawking up a deafening ruckus.

It’s almost laughable at how easy it is with their newfound weapons added in the mix. Kimberly doesn’t even need to get near them to do damage, and though she embarrassingly misses all of her subsequent shots - also noting to practice her aim later on - the other birds are felled with little effort. Just as their claws could tear with ease, Trini’s daggers slice equally as clean and Billy’s double-bladed Power Lance boasts long range with frightening power.

The battle lasts all but ten minutes. The birds didn’t even have a chance to escape. By the time they deemed it a losing fight and tried to cut their losses, Jason and Zack were on them in an instant, cutting them down right in their tracks.

Twirling his axe with a garish flourish, Zack’s enthusiastic voice crackles in their helmets. “Man, why didn’t we get these babies sooner!”

It brings them back to the time of Rita Repulsa and how the weapons certainly would have helped against the Putties, but regardless it’s a moot point because they have them now, and Kimberly couldn’t be more grateful. Grateful that they’ll never have to see the things she’s seen or the damage that the Tenga Warriors can truly inflict if given the opportunity.

Alpha informs them that he’ll collect the bodies of the Tenga Warriors for further study so they demorph and make their way back towards the camp.

By the time they return the sun has set so Jason throws some logs together and starts up a fire. They bust out the graham crackers, chocolate bars, and marshmallows and start making their own s’mores. Zack makes a triple decker disaster that ends up falling apart before he can even take a bite much to his dismay, but Billy ends up putting together another one just for him, perfectly stacked and far more stable in construction.

Later in the night as things are winding down, the nice, wholesome s’mores making activity goes rogue the moment Trini flicks a marshmallow at Zack’s face. He looks personally affronted by the act of war, and within seconds there are marshmallows flying in every direction. Jason complains at first, stating that they only have so many marshmallows left, but Billy finds another full bag buried at the bottom of the pile of graham cracker boxes and chocolates, so he shrugs and throws one back at Zack in retaliation.

It’s a battle that Kimberly doesn’t mind losing, and at the end of the night after they’ve cleaned up the mess to the best of their abilities, they retreat into their respective tents.

Throwing on a pair of long flannel pajama pants and an old, comfortable shirt faded from years of washes, Kimberly plops down onto the ground like a starfish and exhales loudly.

“Man, what a day.”

Unzipping her sleeping bag all the way until it essentially becomes one giant blanket, Trini unfolds it out until it covers them both before crawling underneath and wrapping her arm loosely around Kimberly’s waist. Snuggling into her side, she wiggles a few more times before finally settling into a comfortable position.

Kimberly’s glad that she has the cover of darkness, otherwise Trini would never let her live down the broad, goofy grin that’s plastered across her face. She’d call her a big sap, a romantic softy, or some other clichéd term in spite of the fact that Trini is just the same if not moreso. Kimberly once saw her cry during The Notebook, to which Trini blamed on a sudden allergic reaction to an increase of pollen in the air. Billy pointed out that it wasn’t even the right season to which she had no proper comeback and could only grumble inaudibly in response.

“I’m sorry for what you had to go through,” Trini whispers as her thumb starts making soothing circling motions against her side. “I mean, we all saw Billy… die… against Rita, but I’m sure it must’ve been different than what you witnessed. I wish I could’ve been there with you.”

Kimberly tenses up, flashbacks of the horrible days playing in her mind like a hellish slideshow, but she pulls herself back to the present and focuses on what she has. Shifting her body slightly, she places a tender kiss on Trini’s forehead.

“You _were_ there with me,” Kimberly murmurs quietly, “you just don’t remember. You always stood by my side no matter what and for that I’ll always be grateful because I don’t know how I would’ve made it through some of those days without you.”

Craning her neck, Trini leans forward and softly brushes her lips against Kimberly’s. It’s chaste and reserved and so very much _unlike_ her to show such restraint, but she pulls back just enough to leave their noses touching and Kimberly’s never felt more at peace.

“I’ll stand with you,” Trini says with conviction. “Always and forever.”

  


//

  


Sunlight leaks through the tent as the brisk morning air rouses Kimberly from her sleep. Slowly blinking awake, instinctual panic shoots through her body as the flamingo pink hue of the tent fills her vision just like the days that came before.

No.

_Impossible._

She hears leaves and twigs crunch underfoot as someone approaches their tent and moments later, Zack’s bright and chipper face appears in the entrance.

“Rise and fucking shine, motherfucker!”

Well, _that_ one’s new.

Kimberly rubs the sleep from her eyes. “Wh-what did you say?”

“I said rise and–you know what, nevermind, just wake up you lovebirds,” Zack chuckles happily. “Jason is making oatmeal; let’s hope he doesn’t burn this too.”

Kimberly shakes her head and regards her surroundings more carefully. Trini is right beside her and the sleeping bag is unfolded completely to accommodate them both, just as it had been the night before.

He retreats back to the campfire just as Trini stirs from her slumber with a drowsy grin on her face. She looks up into Kimberly’s eyes and stretches lazily. “The day repeating again, or nah?”

Kimberly flashes her a smug smile. “If every repeat was like this, I wouldn’t have minded as much.”

“Every day can be like this if you want.”

Every day, just like how Kimberly imagined. A future full of laughter, full of love, full of Trini. Being a Power Ranger may not carry the guarantee of a long life, but as long as Trini is there with her, then she’s alright with that.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to hit me up on tumblr too :) [Taikoturtle](http://taikoturtle.tumblr.com/)


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